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HONORE    de    BALZAC 
(1799-1850) 


HONORE  de  BALZAC 

BY 

ALBERT  KEIM  and  LOUIS  LUMET 

Translated  from  the  French  by 

FREDERIC  TABER  COOPER 

WITH  SEVEN  ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES   COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1914.  by 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved 


September ',  1914 


GENERAL  NOTE 

Of  all  books  perhaps  the  one  best  designed 
for  training  the  mind  and  forming  the  charac- 
ter is  "Plutarch".  The  lives  of  great  men  are 
object-lessons.  They  teach  effort,  devotion,  in- 
dustry, heroism  and  sacrifice. 

Even  one  who  confines  his  reading  solely  to 
biographies  of  thinkers,  writers,  inventors,  poets 
of  the  spirit  or  poets  of  science,  will  in  a  short 
time  have  acquired  an  understanding  of  the 
whole  History  of  Humanity. 

And  what  novel  or  what  drama  could  be  com- 
pared to  such  a  history?  Accurate  biographies 
record  narratives  which  no  romancer's  imagina- 
tion could  hope  to  rival.  Researches,  suffer- 
ings, labors,  triumphs,  agonies  and  disasters, 
the  defeats  of  destiny,  glory,  which  is  the  "sun- 
light of  the  dead,"  illuminating  the  past, 
whether  fortunate  or  tragic, — such  is  what  the 
lives  of  Great  Men  reveal  to  us,  or,  if  the  phrase 
be  allowed,  paint  for  us  in  a  series  of  fascinat- 
ing and  dramatic  pictures. 

This  series  of  biographies  is  accordingly  in- 


330930 


vi  BALZAC 

tended  to  form  a  sort  of  gallery,  a  museum  of 
the  great  servants  of  Art,  Science,  Thought  and 
Action. 

It  was  Emerson  who  wrote  a  volume  devoted 
to  the  Representatives  of  Humanity.  Here  we 
have  still  another  collection  of  "Representa- 
tive Men.3'  This  collection  of  profoundly  in- 
teresting  studies  is  entrusted  to  the  care  of  two 
writers,  Mr.  Albert  Keim  and  Mr.  Louis  Lumet, 
both  of  whom  have  already  earned  their  laurels, 
the  former  as  poet,  novelist,  playwright,  his- 
torian and  philosopher,  and  author  of  a  defini- 
tive work  upon  Helvetius  which  deserves  to 
become  a  classic,  and  the  latter  as  publicist,  art 
critic  and  scholar  of  rare  and  profound  erudi- 
tion. An  acquaintance  with  the  successive  vol- 
umes in  this  series  will  give  ample  evidence  of 
the  value  of  such  able  collaborators. 

On  the  mountain  tops  we  breathe  a  purer  and 
more  vivifying  air.  And  it  is  like  ascending  to 
a  moral  mountain  top  when  we  live,  if  only  for 
a  moment,  with  the  dead  who,  in  their  lives  did 
honour  to  mankind,  and  attain  the  level  of 
those  whose  eyes  now  closed,  once  glowed  like 
beacon-lights,  leading  humanity  on  its  eternal 
march  through  night-time  towards  the  light. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER                                                                                                                                                  PAGE 

I    The  Treatise  on  the  Human  Will  .         .        1 

II    The  Garret     . 

28 

Ill    His  Apprenticeship 

56 

IV    In  Business 

71 

V    The  First  Success    . 

94 

VI    Dandyism 

,     118 

VII    The  " Foreign  Lady"      . 

.     149 

VIII    At  Les  Jardies 

.     188 

IX    In  Retirement         ♦        ♦ 

.    211 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

HONORE  DE  BALZAC  ....  Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

TWO  PORTRAITS  OF  BALZAC 

On  the  left:  At  the  age  of  32,  from  the 
Supplement  in  the  newspaper  he  Voleur; 
On  the  right:  At  about  34  years  of  age, 
from  a  sepia  drawing  by  Louis  Boulanger, 
the  original  of  which  is  in  the  Museum  at 
Tours 36 

THE  DE  BALZAC  FAMILY 

Above:  Francois  de  Balzac;  Mme.  F.  de 
Balzac,  nee  Sallambier,  father  and  mother  of 
the  great  novelist.  Below:  Honor6  de  Bal- 
zac, at  the  age  of  25,  an  engraving  by  A. 
Lepere,  from  a  painting  attributed  to  Achille 
Deveria. — Laure  de  Balzac,  his  sister,  after- 
wards Mme.  Surville  .         .         .  .        84 

MME.  HANSKA  AND  BALZAC 

Above:  Mme.  Hanska,  whom  the  great 
novelist  married  in  1850,  a  few  months  before 
his  death. — Balzac,  from  the  painting  by 
Louis  Boulanger.  Below:  Mme.  Hanska's 
Chateau  at  Wiertzkownia  in  Poland,  where 
Balzac  lived  from  1848  until  his  return  to 
France 148 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


BALZAC  IN  CARACATURE 

Above:  The  high  road  to  Posterity,  by 
Benjamin  Roubaud,  including:  Victor  Hugo, 
ThSophile  Gautier,  F.  Weill,  Eugene  Sue, 
A.  Dumas,  F.  Souli6,  Balzac,  A.  de  Vigny, 
Gozlan,  C.  Delavigne.  Below:  Balzac,  by 
EtienneCarj at,  and  by  Benjamin  .         .         .     180 

THE  DEATH  OF  BALZAC 

Above:  The  house  in  the  Rue  Fortune^ 
(now  Rue  Balzac),  in  which  Balzac  died 
August  18,  1850.  Below:  The  famous 
novelist  on  his  death  bed,  by  Eugene  Giraud     212 

FAME 

Statue  of  Balzac,  by  Falguiere,  erected  in 
Paris,  on  the  Avenue  Friedland    ,        ,       *      244 


HONORE    de    BALZAC 

(1799-1850) 


HONORS  DE  BALZAC 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    TREATISE    ON    THE    HUMAN    WILL 

A  T  Balzac's  funeral,  the  glorious  yet  bitter 
^^  seal  upon  his  destiny,  Victor  Hugo  deliv- 
ered a  magnificent  address,  and  in  his  capacity 
as  poet  and  seer  proclaimed  with  assurance  the 
judgment  of  posterity: 

"His  life  has  been  brief  yet  full,  and  richer 
in  works  than  in  days. 

"Alas!  This  powerful  and  indefatigable 
worker,  this  philosopher,  this  thinker,  this  poet, 
this  genius  has  lived  amongst  us  that  life  of 
storms,  of  struggles,  of  quarrels,  of  combats, 
which  has  always  been  the  common  lot  of  all 
great  men.  Today  we  see  him  at  peace.  He  has 
escaped  from  controversies  and  enmities.  He 
has  entered,  on  the  selfsame  day,  into  glory 

1 


2  HONOEE  DE  BALZAC 

and  into  the  tomb.  Henceforward  he  will  shine 
far  above  all  those  clouds  which  float  over 
our  heads,  among  the  brightest  stars  of  his 
native  land." 

This  discourse  was  admirable  for  its  truth,  its 
justice  and  its  far-sightedness,  a  golden  palm 
branch  laid  upon  the  author's  tomb,  around 
which  there  still  arose  clamours  and  bitter  ar- 
guments, denying  the  greatness  of  his  works, 
and  rumours  which  veiled  the  features  of  the 
man  himself  behind  a  haze  of  absurd  legends. 
A  star  of  his  country  he  certainly  was,  as  Victor 
Hugo  proclaimed  him,  one  of  those  enduring 
stars  which  time — so  cruel  to  others — fails  to 
change,  except  to  purify  their  light  and  aug- 
ment their  brilliance,  to  the  greater  pride  of 
the  nation.  His  life  was  indeed  short,  but  it 
was  one  which  set  a  salutary  example,  because, 
stripped  of  idle  gossip,  it  teaches  us  the  inner 
discipline,  the  commanding  will  and  the  cour- 
age of  this  hero  who,  in  the  midst  of  joy  and 
sorrow  alike,  succeeded  in  creating  an  entire 
world. 

Honore  de  Balzac  was  born  at  Tours  on  the 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL        3 

20th  of  March,  1799,  on  the  ground  floor  of  a 
building  belonging  to  a  tailor  named  Damou- 
rette,  in  the  Rue  de  l'Armee  dTtalie,  No.  25, — 
now  No.  35,  Rue  Nationale.  The  majority  of 
his  biographers  have  confused  it  with  the  dwell- 
ing which  his  father  bought  later  on,  No.  29 
in  the  same  street  according  to  the  old  num- 
bering, and  the  acacia  which  is  there  pointed 
out  as  having  been  planted  at  the  date  of  his 
birth  really  celebrated  that  of  his  brother  Henri, 
who  was  several  years  the  younger. 

Although  born  in  Touraine,  Balzac  was  not 
of  Tourainian  stock,  for  his  birthplace  was  due 
merely  to  chance.  His  father,  Bernard  Fran- 
cois Balssa  or  Balsa,  came  originally  from  the 
little  village  of  Nougaire,  in  the  commune  of 
Montirat  and  district  of  Albi.  He  descended 
from  a  peasant  family,  small  land-owners  or 
often  simple  day  labourers.  It  was  he  who 
first  added  a  "c"  to  his  patronymic  and  who 
later  prefixed  the  particle  for  which  the  great 
novelist  was  afterwards  so  often  reproached. 
Bernard  Balssa,  born  July  22,  1746,  left  his 
native  village  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years, 


4  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

never  to  return.  What  was  his  career,  and 
what  functions  did  he  fulfil?  Honore  de  Bal- 
zac says  that  his  father  was  secretary  to  the 
Grand  Council  under  Louis  XV,  and  Laure 
Surville,  his  sister,  wrote  that  under  Louis 
XVI  he  was  attorney  to  the  Council.  He  him- 
self, in  an  invitation  to  the  marriage  of  his 
second  daughter,  Laurence,  described  himself 
as  former  secretary  to  the  King's  Council.  Dur- 
ing the  revolution  he  was  secretary  to  the  min- 
ister of  the  navy,  Bertrant  de  Molleville,  and 
later  was  director  of  the  commissary  depart- 
ment in  the  first  division  of  the  Armee  du 
Nord,  stationed  at  Lille. 

It  is  impossible  to  follow  him  through  all 
the  different  wanderings  necessitated  by  his 
functions,  but  it  is  known  that  upon  returning 
to  Paris  he  there  married  the  daughter  of  one 
of  his  superior  officers,  Sallambier,  attached  to 
the  Ministry  of  War  and  at  the  same  time 
director  of  the  Paris  hospitals.  At  the  time 
of  the  marriage,  January  30,  1797,  he  was 
fifty-one  years  of  age;  his  bride,  Laure,  was 
only  eighteen,  a  young  girl  possessed  of  cul- 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL        5 

ture,  beauty  and  distinction  of  manner.  The 
first  fruit  of  this  union  was  a  son,  who,  al- 
though nursed  by  the  mother,  died  at  an  early 
age.  Through  the  influence  of  his  father-in- 
law,  the  elder  Balzac  obtained  in  1799  the  direc- 
tion of  the  commissary  department  of  the 
twenty-second  military  division,  and  installed 
himself  at  Tours,  where  the  division  was  sta- 
tioned, in  the  early  months  of  the  same  year. 
Frangois  soon  had  a  reputation  throughout 
the  province.  He  was  a  sort  of  philosopher 
and  reformer,  a  man  with  ideas.  He  despised 
the  currently  accepted  opinions,  and  proclaimed 
his  own  boldly,  indifferent  to  the  consterna- 
tion of  his  fellow  townsmen.  A  large  head 
emerging  from  the  high,  thick  collar  of  his  blue, 
white-braided  coat,  which  opened  to  disclose 
an  ample  cravat,"  a  smooth-shaven  face  and 
florid  complexion,  a  powerful  chin  and  full 
cheeks,  framed  in  short,  brown  "mutton-chop" 
whiskers,  a  small  mouth  with  thick  lips,  a  long, 
straight,  slightly  bulbous  nose,  an  energetic 
face  lit  up  by  black  eyes,  brilliant  and  slightly 
dreamy,  beneath  a  broad,  determined  forehead 


6  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

overhung  with  stray  locks  of  hair,  gathered 
back  in  the  fashion  of  the  Republic, — all  these 
features  proclaimed  a  rugged  personality,  a 
dominant  character,  conspicuously  at  variance 
with  the  placid  bourgeoisie  of  Touraine.  Fran- 
gois  Balzac  had  furthermore  an  agreeable  pres- 
ence and  a  self-satisfied  manner,  and  it  pleased 
him  to  boast  of  his  southern  origin. 

The  citizens  of  Tours  spoke  of  him  as  "an 
eccentric,"  but  he  was  greatly  annoyed  when 
the  term  reached  his  ears,  for,  good  Gascon 
that  he  was,  and  proud  of  himself,  body  and 
mind,  he  felt  that  it  was  singularly  humiliating 
to  be  treated  with  so  little  respect.  In  point 
of  fact,  he  was  quite  justified  in  refusing  to 
accept  an  appellation  which,  however  well  it 
might  fit  his  manners  as  a  well-intentioned 
fault-finder,  caustic  and  whimsical  in  speech, 
in  no  way  applied  to  his  unusually  broad  and 
penetrating  intelligence,  teeming  with  new  and 
strictly  original  ideas. 

He  was  a  disciple  of  Rousseau;  he  held  cer- 
tain social  theories,  and  he  was  unsparing  in 
his  criticisms  of  existing  governments.    He  had 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL        7 

his  own  views  as  to  how  society  at  large  should 
be  governed  and  improved.  The  first  of  these 
views  consisted  in  cultivating  mankind,  by  ap- 
plying the  method  of  eugenic  selection  to  mar- 
riage, in  such  a  manner  that  after  a  few  years 
there  would  be  no  human  beings  left  save  those 
who  were  strong,  robust  and  healthy.  He  could 
not  find  sufficient  sarcasm  to  express  his  scorn 
of  governments  which,  in  civilised  countries, 
allowed  the  development  of  weaklings,  cripples 
and  invalids.  Perhaps  he  based  his  theory 
upon  his  own  example.  Frangois  Balzac  had 
the  constitution  of  an  athlete  and  believed  him- 
self destined  to  live  to  the  age  of  a  hundred 
years  and  upward.  According  to  his  calcula- 
tions, a  man  did  not  reach  his  perfect  develop- 
ment until  after  completing  his  first  century; 
and,  in  order  to  do  this,  he  took  the  most  minute 
care  of  himself.  He  studied  the  Chinese  people, 
celebrated  for  their  longevity,  and  he  sought  for 
the  best  methods  of  maintaining  what  he  called 
the  equilibrium  of  vital  forces.  When  any 
event  contradicted  his  theories,  he  found  no 
trouble  in  turning  it  to  his  own  advantage. 


8  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

"He  was  never,"  related  his  daughter,  Mme. 
Laure  Surville,  in  her  article  upon  Balzac,  "un- 
der any  circumstances  at  a  loss  for  a  retort. 
One  day,  when  a  newspaper  article  relating  to 
a  centenarian  was  being  read  aloud  (an  article 
not  likely  to  escape  notice  in  our  family,  as 
may  well  be  imagined)  he  interrupted  the 
reader,  contrary  to  his  habit,  in  order  to  say 
enthusiastically,  There  is  a  man  who  has  lived 
wisely  and  has  never  squandered  his  strength 
in  all  sorts  of  excesses,  as  so  many  imprudent 
young  people  doF  It  turned  out,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  this  wise  old  man  frequently  be- 
came drunk,  and  that  he  took  a  late  supper 
every  evening,  which,  according  to  my  father, 
was  one  of  the  greatest  enormities  that  one 
could  perpetrate  against  one's  health.  'Well/ 
resumed  my  father  imperturbably,  'the  man 
has  shortened  his  life,  no  doubt  about  it/  " 

Frangois  Balzac  was  not  to  be  shaken  in  his 
opinions.  Furthermore,  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  asserting  them,  in  the  course  of  conver- 
sation, but  in  spite  of  his  lack  of  confidence  in 
the  influence  of  books  upon  prejudiced  readers 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL        9 

(for  he  considered  that  the  sole  exception  was 
the  reaction  against  chivalry  brought  about  by 
Cervantes's  Don  Quixote),  he  wrote  a  num- 
ber of  pamphlets  in  which  the  vigour  and  origi- 
nality of  his  mind  are  revealed.  He  published 
successively:  An  Essay  regarding  Two  Great 
Obligations  to  be  fulfilled  by  the  French 
(1804),  An  Essay  on  the  Methods  of  prevent- 
ing  Thefts  and  Assassinations  (1807),  A  Pam- 
phlet regarding  the  Equestrian  Statue  which 
the  French  People  ought  to  raise  to  perpetuate 
the  Memory  of  Henry  IV  (1815),  The  History 
of  Hydrophobia  (1819),  etc.  In  the  first  of 
these  works  Frangois  Balzac  proposed  that  a 
monument  should  be  raised  to  commemorate 
the  glory  of  Napoleon  and  the  French  army. 
Might  not  that  be  almost  called  the  origin  of 
the  Arc-de-Triomphe? 

The  singularities  of  Frangois  Balzac  in  no 
wise  hurt  him  in  the  estimation  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Touraine.  He  served  as  administrator 
of  the  General  Hospice  from  1804  to  1812,  and 
introduced  there  a  practical  reform  in  provid- 
ing remunerative  work  for  the  old  men.    As  an 


10  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

attache  of  the  Mayor's  office,  he  had  the  mayor- 
alty offered  him  in  1808,  but  he  refused  it  in 
order  to  consecrate  himself  entirely  to  the  sick 
and  convalescent. 

At  Tours  the  Balzac  household  led  the  life 
of  prosperous  bourgeois  folk.  The  father  had 
acquired  a  house  with  grounds  and  farm  lands. 
The  Balzacs  entertained  and  were  received  in 
society.  People  enjoyed — perhaps  with  some 
secret  smiles — the  unexpected  outbursts  of  the 
husband,  and  they  liked  him  for  his  kindly 
ironies  which  had  no  touch  of  malice.  As  for 
the  subtle  and  witty  Madame  Laure  Balzac, 
who  had  preserved  all  the  graces  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  she  was  found  delightful  by 
all  those  whom  she  admitted  to  the  honour  of 
entering  her  circle  of  acquaintances. 

She  was  a  young  woman  of  distinguished 
manner,  with  a  somewhat  oval  face  and  small, 
delicate  features,  overcast  at  times  with  a 
shade  of  melancholy.  She  had  a  somewhat  dis- 
tant manner  which  she  redeemed  by  a  gesture 
of  charming  welcome,  or  a  gracious  phrase.  She 
was  pious,  but  without  bigotry,  a  mystic  whose 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       11 

religion  was  that  of  St.  John,  all  gentleness  and 
impulse.  She  read  Swedenborg,  St.  Martin, 
and  Jacob  Boehm.  She  had  an  ardent  and 
untrammelled  imagination,  but  her  character 
was  firm.  Her  decisions  were  promptly  taken 
and  she  knew  how  to  enforce  their  execution. 
She  was  a  woman  of  principle;  she  respected 
social  rules  and  customs  and  demanded  that 
the  members  of  her  family  should  observe  them. 

Four  more  children  were  born  to  this  mar- 
riage, two  sons  and  two  daughters:  Honore, 
Laure,'  Laurence,  and  Henri,  all  of  whom  had 
widely  different  destinies.  Laure  became  the 
wife  of  an  engineer  of  bridges  and  highways, 
M.  Midy  de  la  Greneraye  Surville,  and  was 
intimately  associated  with  the  life  of  her  older 
brother,  whom  she  survived  down  to  1854; 
Laurence  died  a  few  years  after  her  marriage 
in  1821  to  M.  de  Montzaigle;  Henri,  the  young- 
est, went  through  divers  ups  and  downs;  but 
finding  himself  unable  to  achieve  a  position  of 
independence,  he  finally  went  into  exile  in  the 
Colonies. 

Madame  de  Balzac's  first  son  having  died,  as 


12  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

was  thought,  in  consequence  of  the  mother's 
attempt  to  nurse  him  herself,  Honore  was 
placed  with  a  nurse  in  the  country  district  out- 
side of  Tours.  He  remained  there  until  four 
years  of  age,  together  with  his  sister  Laure,  and 
it  is  there,  no  doubt,  that  they  formed  that 
tender  and  trusting  friendship  which  never 
wavered.  When  he  returned  to  the  paternal 
roof,  Honore  was  a  plump,  chubby-cheeked 
little  boy  with  brown  hair  falling  in  masses  of 
curls,  a  contented  disposition  and  laughing 
eyes.  People  noticed  him  when  out  walking  in 
his  short  vest  of  brown  silk  and  blue  belt,  and 
mothers  would  turn  around  to  say,  "What  a 
pretty  child!" 

Honore  was  impulsive,  with  a  heart  over- 
flowing with  affection,  but  the  training  he  re- 
ceived at  home  was  rigorous  and  severe.  En- 
trusted to  the  hands  of  servants,  under  the  high 
and  mighty  surveillance  of  his  governess,  Mile. 
Delahaye,  he  received  from  his  father,  who  was 
already  an  old  man,  nothing  more  than  an  in- 
dulgent and  often  absent-minded  affection, 
while,  as  for  his  mother,  she  carried  out  with 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       13 

great  firmness  her  theories  regarding  the  re- 
lation between  children  and  parents.  She  re- 
ceived hers  each  evening  in  her  large  drawing- 
room  with  cold  dignity.  Before  kissing  them 
she  recapitulated  all  the  faults  they  had  com- 
mitted during  the  day,  which  she  had  learned 
from  the  governess,  and  her  reproofs  were  rein- 
forced with  punishments.  Honore  never  ap- 
proached her  without  fear,  repressing  all  his 
feelings  and  his  need  of  affection.  He  suffered 
in  secret.  Then  he  would  take  refuge  with  his 
sister  Laure,  his  only  friend  and  comforter. 

Before  he  was  five  years  old  he  was  sent  to 
a  day-school  in  Tours  known  as  the  Leguay 
Institution.  He  had  a  taste  for  reading,  indeed 
it  was  more  than  a  taste,  it  was  a  sort  of  men- 
tal starvation  which  made  him  throw  himself 
hungrily  upon  every  book  he  encountered. 
Otherwise,  Honore  was  frankly  a  mediocre 
and  negligent.  But  concentrated  in  himself 
and  deprived  of  the  caresses  which  would  have 
meant  so  much  to  him,  he  created  a  whole 
world  out  of  his  readings  and  sometimes  gave 
glimpses  of  it  to  Laure  by  acting  out  before 


14  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

her  dramas  and  comedies  of  his  own  manufac- 
ture and  of  which  he  was  the  hero.  His  exuber- 
ance made  him  a  good  comrade;  yet  he  also 
loved  solitude.  When  alone,  he  could  give  him- 
self up  to  the  fantasies  born  of  his  own  imagi- 
nation, and  he  invented  his  own  games  and 
used  to  play  upon  a  cheap  toy  violin  made  of 
red  wood  airs  which  he  enjoyed  to  the  point 
of  ecstasy  and  of  which  no  one  else  could  bear 
the  sound. 

At  the  age  of  eight  years  and  some  months, 
on  the  22d  of  June,  1807,  Honore  entered  a 
college  school  at  Vendome.  It  was  an  institu- 
tion celebrated  throughout  the  districts  of  cen- 
tral France  and  directed  by  the  Oratorian 
Fathers.  Prior  to  the  Revolution,  cadets  used 
to  be  trained  there  for  the  army,  and  it  had 
preserved  the  military  severity  of  its  disci- 
pline. After  their  admission,  the  pupils  were 
never  allowed  outside  vacations  and  never  left 
its  walls  until  their  course  of  study  was  ter- 
minated. Honore  lived  there  until  April  22, 
1813, — and  in  Louis  Lambert  he  has  described 
his  sufferings,  his  hopes  and  the  tumultuous 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       15 

and  confused  awakening  of  his  genius,  through- 
out those  long  years  of  convent-like  imprison- 
ment. He  had  passed  from  the  cold  discipline 
of  the  family  circle,  which  had  nevertheless 
been  tempered  by  an  atmosphere  of  kindli- 
ness, to  the  hard  and  impersonal  discipline  of 
the  college  school.  The  warm-hearted  and  mel- 
ancholy child  must  needs  undergo  this  second 
severe  test,  and  he  was  destined  to  come  out 
from  it  in  a  state  of  self-intoxication,  a  bewil- 
derment of  dreams  and  ideas. 

The  college  buildings,  surrounded  by  walls, 
contained  everything  that  would  seem  calcu- 
lated to  render  existence  laborious  and  gloomy 
for  the  students.  The  latter  were  divided  into 
four  sections,  the  Minions,  the  Smalls,  the  Me- 
diums, and  the  Greats,  to  which  they  were 
assigned  according  to  the  grade  of  their  studies. 
For  diversion,  they  had  a  narrow  garden  which 
they  could  cultivate  and  a  cabin;  they  had 
permission  to  raise  pigeons  and  to  eat  them,  in 
addition  to  the  ordinary  fare.  The  classrooms 
were  dirty,  being  either  muddy  or  covered  with 
dust,  according  to  the  season,  and  evil-smelling 


16  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

as  a  result  of  crowding  together  within  narrow 
spaces  too  many  young  folks  who  were  none 
too  clean  and  to  whom  the  laws  of  hygiene 
were  unknown.  The  masters  were  either  over- 
bearing or  neglectful,  incapable  of  distinguish- 
ing the  individual  from  the  crowd  and  con- 
cerned only  with  seeing  that  the  rules  were 
obeyed  and  discipline  maintained.  The  pupils 
themselves  were  often  cruel  to  each  other. 

It  was  here  that  Honore  de  Balzac  formed 
his  own  character,  alone,  and  suffered  alone, 
sensitive  and  repressed  child  that  he  was.  From 
the  very  first  months  of  the  sojourn  in  the 
College  of  Vendome,  he  was  classed  among  the 
apathetic  and  lazy  pupils,  among  those  of 
whom  nothing  could  be  made,  who  would  never 
be  an  honour  to  the  school  that  trained  them 
and  who  could  be  ignored  excepting  for  the 
purposes  of  punishment.  Honore  had  an  in- 
surmountable aversion  for  all  the  required 
tasks,  he  was  indifferent  to  the  charms  of 
Greek  themes  or  Latin  translations,  and  history 
alone  had  the  power  of  stirring  him  and  awak- 
ening his  appetite  for  knowledge.     He  was 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       17 

habitually  sluggish  and  stupid  in  the  eyes  of 
his  masters,  but  what  a  formidable,  unknown 
work  was  going  on  in  the  brain  of  this  child! 

We  may  picture  him  in  the  classroom,  during 
study  hour,  leaning  on  his  left  elbow  and  hold- 
ing an  open  book  with  his  right  hand,  while  he 
rubs  his  shoes,  one  against  the  other,  with  a 
mechanical  movement.  What  is  he  reading? 
Morality  in  Action  and  in  Example.  His 
obscure  desires  are  taking  definite  form.  To 
become  a  great  man,  a  hero,  one  of  those  whose 
names  are  transmitted  from  age  to  age,  such 
from  choice  will  be  his  own  destiny.  He  seizes 
his  pen  and  rapidly  writes  "Balzac,  Balzac, 
Balzac"  over  all  the  white  margins  of  the  book 
on  morality.*  Then  once  more  he  leans  upon 
his  elbow,  gazing  out  of  the  window  at  a  corner 
of  verdure  which  he  can  just  glimpse,  and 
forthwith  he  is  off  again  in  one  of  his  inter- 
minable reveries. 

The  harsh  voice  of  the  teacher  interrupts 
him: 

♦This  book  passed  into  the  possession  of  M.  Jules 
Claretie. 


18  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

"You  are  doing  nothing,  M.  Balzac." 

The  boy  falls  back  from  his  dreams  into  the 
classroom.  The  reproof  has  hurt  him  keenly. 
He  fixes  his  magnetic  black  eyes  upon  the 
teacher.  Is  it  bitterness,  disdain,  or  anger 
towards  him  for  having  destroyed  those  fruit- 
ful meditations?  At  all  events,  the  teacher 
feels  something  like  a  shock.    He  says: 

"If  you  look  at  me  like  that,  M.  Balzac,  you 
will  receive  the  ferrule." 

The  ferrule!  The  thong  of  leather  that  cut 
so  painfully  when  it  fell  with  dreaded  rhythm, 
one,  two,  three,  on  the  tips  of  the  fingers  or  the 
palm  of  the  hand. 

Punishments  rained  heavily  on  Balzac,  the 
bad  pupil,  who  seems  to  have  been  perpetually 
in  disgrace  over  his  tasks  and  lessons.  These 
punishments  included  the  extra  copying  of 
lines  in  such  numbers  that  he  has  been  declared 
the  inventor  of  the  three-pointed  pen;  and 
then  there  was  imprisonment  in  the  dormi- 
tory, "the  wooden  breeches,"  as  it  was  called 
in  the  college,  and  where  he  remained  for  weeks 
at  a  time.     Whether  he  suffered  from  these 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       19 

punishments  and  from  the  contempt  of  his 
teachers,  Honore  at  least  never  complained; 
for  whatever  left  his  mind  free  to  follow  its 
own  self-cultivation  was  a  welcome  oppor- 
tunity. 

He  had  a  tutor,  the  librarian  of  the  rich 
Oratorian  library,  who  during  those  rare  recre- 
ation hours,  when  he  had  no  extra  lines  to  copy, 
was  supposed  to  give  him  special  lessons  in 
mathematics.  But  by  a  tacit  agreement  the 
teacher  paid  no  attention  to  the  pupil,  and 
the  latter  was  permitted  to  read  and  carry  away 
any  books  which  took  his  fancy.  In  point  of 
fact,  no  book  seemed  to  him  too  austere  or  too 
repellent  or  too  obscure  for  his  youthful  un- 
derstanding. He  absorbed  pell-mell  works 
upon  religion,  treatises  of  chemistry  and  phys- 
ics, and  historical  and  philosophical  works.  He 
even  developed  a  special  taste  for  dictionaries, 
dreaming  over  the  exact  sense  of  words,  the 
adventures  that  befall  them  in  the  course  of 
time  and  their  final  destinies. 

"The  absorption  of  ideas  through  reading  had 
become  in  his  case  a  curious  phenomenon,"  ,so 


20  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Honore  de  Balzac  has  recorded  in  Louis  Lam- 
bert,  in  which  he  has  painted  in  the  person 
of  his  hero  his  own  formative  years  in  the  col- 
lege school  of  Vendome.  "His  eye  would  take 
in  seven  or  eight  lines  at  once,  and  his  mind 
would  grasp  the  meaning  with  a  velocity  equal 
to  that  of  his  glance ;  sometimes  even  a  single 
word  in  a  phrase  was  enough  to  give  him  the 
essence  of  it.  His  memory  was  prodigious.  He 
retained  thoughts  acquired  through  reading 
with  the  same  fidelity  as  those  suggested  to  him 
in  the  course  of  reflection  or  conversation.  In 
short,  he  possessed  every  kind  of  memory: 
that  of  places,  of  names,  of  things,  and  of  faces. 
Not  only  could  he  recall  objects  at  will,  but  he 
could  see  them  again  within  himself  under  the 
same  conditions  of  position  and  light  and  colour 
as  they  had  been  at  the  moment  when  he  first 
perceived  them.  This  same  power  applied 
equally  to  the  most  intangible  processes  of  the 
understanding.  He  could  remember,  according 
to  his  own  expression,  not  merely  the  exact  spot 
from  which  he  had  gleaned  a  thought  in  any 
given  book,  but  also  the  conditions  of  his  own 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       21 

mind  at  far-off  periods.  By  an  undreamed-of 
privilege,  his  memory  could  thus  retrace  the 
progress  and  entire  life  history  of  his  mind 
from  the  earliest  acquired  ideas  down  to  the 
latest  ones  to  unfold,  from  the  most  confused 
down  to  the  most  lucid.  His  brain,  which 
while  still  young  was  habituated  to  the  diffi- 
cult mechanism  of  the  concentration  of  human 
forces,  drew  from  this  rich  storehouse  a  mul- 
titude of  images  admirable  for  their  reality  and 
freshness,  and  which  supplied  him  with  mental 
nutriment  through  all  his  periods  of  clear- 
sighted contemplation." 

Such  was  the  mental  condition  of  Honore 
at  the  time  when  he  was  regarded  by  his  mas- 
ters as  a  dullard,  a  mediocre  pupil  who  might 
as  well  be  left  to  reap  the  consequences  of  his 
own  laziness.  Clad  in  his  grey  uniform,  ill 
shod  and  with  hands  red  and  swollen  from 
chilblains,  he  held  aloof  from  his  comrades, 
indifferent  alike  to  their  games  and  their  taunts. 
The  ruddy  colour  of  well-rounded  cheeks,  due 
to  long  walks  in  the  open  air  of  the  country- 
side around  Tours,  had  disappeared  and  his 


22  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

face  was  now  as  white  and  delicate  as  a  young 
girl's,  while  his  eyes  had  become  blacker  and 
more  mysterious  than  ever. 

Honore  de  Balzac  received  visits  from  his 
parents  at  Easter  and  at  the  time  of  the  distri- 
bution of  prizes.  It  was  a  joyous  occasion,  long 
awaited  by  the  boy,  who  retained  the  warm- 
est affection  for  his  family.  But  his  joy  was 
short-lived.  The  pupil  Balzac  had  won  no 
prizes,  he  had  received  black  marks,  he  had 
done  no  work;  consequently,  instead  of  the 
loving  greeting  that  he  expected,  he  was  met 
only  with  words  of  disappointment  and  cen- 
sure; he  was  told  that  he  did  not  appreciate 
the  sacrifices  that  were  being  made  to  educate 
him,  he  was  idle  and  lazy;  they  hoped  that 
next  year  he  would  do  better  and  at  last  give 
them  some  little  satisfaction. 

Honore  listened  to  these  reproofs  with 
bowed  head,  and  probably  he  made  promises, 
in  his  desire  to  bring  a  smile  to  their  faces  and 
to  receive  some  of  those  endearments  that  he 
had  hungered  for,  through  long  days  of  soli- 
tude.   But  each  year  he  again  took  up  his  in- 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       23 

terrupted  dream,  more  laboriously  and  more 
fiercely  than  before. 

The  college  school  at  Vendome  possesses  a 
literary  society  whose  membership  is  confined 
to  the  Greats,  and  which  gives  performances 
of  scenes  from  tragedies  and  comedies,  poetic 
recitations,  etc.  Honore  conceived  the  ambi- 
tion to  have  some  writing  of  his  own  produced 
by  this  society.  He  practised  rhyming,  com- 
posed poems,  and  undertook  an  epic,  one  line 
of  which  has  remained  famous, 

"0    Inca!  luckless  and  unhappy  king," 

for  it  made  him  the  butt  and  by-word  of  the 
entire  school.  He  was  nicknamed  "The  Poet," 
and  laughed  at  for  his  formless  efforts.  The 
director  of  the  school,  M.  Mareschal,  told  him 
a  fable,  with  the  charitable  intent  of  turning 
him  aside  from  his  ambitions.  There  was  once 
upon  a  time  a  young  linnet  in  a  soft  and  downy 
nest;  but  the  young  linnet  longed  for  the  free 
and  open  air  and  the  blue  sky.  Its  wings  had 
not  yet  grown,  and  yet  the  imprudent  bird 
made  up  its  mind  to  fly.     What  happened? 


24  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Why,  simply  that  the  young  linnet  fell  from 
the  tree  in  which  the  nest  was  built,  and  hurt 
itself  pitifully.  Warning  to  poets  who  presume 
too  far  upon  their  powers.  Honore  disregarded 
the  fable,  just  as  he  had  disregarded  reproofs, 
mockery  and  punishment,  and  burrowed  deeper 
than  ever  into  the  Oratorian  library,  in  a  sort 
of  sombre  phrensy.  He  neglected  his  studies 
and  assigned  tasks  for  the  sake  of  the  secret 
and  forbidden  work  that  constituted  what  he 
called  later  on,  in  Louis  Lambert,  his  con- 
traband studies.  Although  he  continued  to 
write  poetry,  his  mind  as  it  ripened  and  gath- 
ered strength  in  its  singular  solitude  aspired 
to  still  loftier  works,  based  upon  metaphysics 
and  pure  reason. 

While  his  comrades  translated  Virgil  and 
Demosthenes,  he  had  begun  to  write  a  Treat- 
ise upon  the  Will,  a  symbolic  'work  which  con- 
tained the  germs  of  his  entire  destiny.  His 
fellow  students,  rendered  curious  by  his  sus- 
tained application,  continuing  month  after 
month,  tried  in  vain  to  steal  glimpses  over 
his  shoulder,  but  Honore  de  Balzac  would  per- 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       25 

mit  no  profane  eye  to  fall  upon  his  manuscript. 
He  eluded  their  persistence  and  entrusted  the 
precious  pages  to  a  box  which  he  could  secure 
under  lock  and  key.  A  conspiracy  was  formed. 
They  wanted  to  know  what  he  had  been  writ- 
ing all  this  time  with  such  serious  intent  that 
nothing  could  take  his  attention  from  it.  Dur- 
ing a  recreation  period  Honore  was  copying,  as 
usual,  some  extra  lines  as  a  punishment.  A 
turbulent  troupe  invaded  the  classroom  and 
flung  themselves  upon  the  box  which  concealed 
the  manuscript.  They  wanted  to  know  and 
they  were  going  to  know!  Honore  defended 
the  box  energetically,  for  it  was  his  heart  and 
brain  which  they  wanted  to  know,  it  was  all 
his  knowledge  and  beautiful  dreamg  that  they 
wished  to  lay  bare  to  the  light  of  day.  There 
followed  a  veritable  battle  around  that  little 
wooden  casket.  Attracted  by  the  outcries  of 
the  assailants,  one  of  the  masters,  Father 
Haugoult,  arrived  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult. 
Balzac's  crime  was  proclaimed,  he  was  hiding 
papers  in  his  box  and  refused  to  show  them. 
The  master  straightway  ordered  this  bad  pupil 


26  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

to  surrender  these  secret  and  forbidden  writ- 
ings. Honore  could  not  do  otherwise  than  obey, 
for  the  box  would  be  broken  open  if  he  did 
not  unlock  it  of  his  own  accord;  so,  with 
trembling  hands,  he  despoiled  himself  of  his 
treasures. 

With  careless  fingers  the  master  fumbled 
over  the  manuscript  and  with  an  air  of  disdain 
and  a  voice  of  severity  summed  up  the  case 
against  this  bad  pupil : 

"And  it  was  for  the  sake  of  such  nonsense 
that  you  have  been  neglecting  your  duties!" 

Honore  held  back  his  tears,  profoundly  hurt 
at  this  blow  to  his  dreams  and  his  creative 
pride;  but  he  retained  a  confused  sense  of  in- 
justice and  a  conviction  of  the  superior  qual- 
ity of  his  work. 

He  had  now  been  at  the  Vendome  school  for 
more  than  six  years,  and  had  given  himself  up 
to  a  prodigious  amount  of  work,  the  extent  of 
which  no  one  even  suspected.  He  had  grown 
thin  and  pallid  and  half  dazed,  intoxicated  with 
the  ideas  which  whirled  within  his  brain  with- 
out system  or  order.    He  seemed  to  be  attacked 


TREATISE  ON  HUMAN  WILL       27 

by  some  grave  malady,  the  cause  of  which 
could  not  be  explained.  The  director  of  the 
school,  M.  Mareschal  Duplessis,  became  anx- 
ious and  wrote  to  the  boy's  parents  to  come 
and  take  him  out  of  school.  They  came  post- 
haste. Honore  was  apparently  in  a  somnam- 
bulistic state,  hardly  answering  the  questions 
put  to#him;  his  features  were  drawn  and  hag- 
gard, for  he  had  been  carrying  too  heavy  a 
burden  of  readings,  feelings  and  thoughts.  His 
family  could  no  more  understand  than  his  mas- 
ters did  the  origin  of  his  strange  disorder.  And 
Mme.  Sarllambier,  who  had  come  to  live  with 
her  daughter  at  Tours,  after  the  death  of  her 
husband  in  1804,  summed  up  the  opinion  of 
the  family: 

"That  is  the  state  in  which  the  schools  give 
us  back  the  fine  children  that  we  send  them!" 


CHAPTER   II 

THE     GARRET 

T  TIS  dazed  condition,  however,  soon  passed 
away  after  Honored  removal  from  the 
Vendome  school.  He  was  required  to  take  long 
walks  and  play  outdoor  games,  in  consequence 
of  which  his  cheeks  filled  out  and  regained 
their  natural  healthy  colour.  In  appearance 
he  was  now  a  big  lad,  naive  and  contented,  who 
laughingly  submitted  to  his  sisters'  teasing. 
But  he  had  put  his  ideas  in  order:  the  new 
and  troubled  wine  of  books,  to  the  intoxication 
of  which  he  had  succumbed,  had  clarified  it- 
self; his  intellect  was  now  exceptionally  pro- 
found and  mature.  But  his  family  was  not 
willing  to  perceive  this,  and  when  by  chance 
some  remark  of  his  revealed  it  his  mother  would 
answer: 

28 


THE  GARRET  29 

"Honore,  you  do  not  understand  what  you 
are  saying!" 

He  did  not  try  to  dissuade  her  from  this 
opinion,  but  consoled  himself  by  turning  to 
Laure  and  Laurence  and  confiding  his  plans  to 
them: 

"You  shall  see!  I  am  going  to  be  a  great 
man!" 

The  girls  laughed  at  this  somewhat  heavy- 
witted  brother,  who  was  so  behind-hand  in  his 
studies  that,  although  in  the  second  form  when 
he  left  Vendome,  he  had  to  be  put  back  into 
the  third  at  Tours,  in  the  institution  conducted 
by  a  M.  Chretien.  They  greeted  him  with  pro- 
found bows  and  mock  reverence,  and,  while 
he  responded  with  a  good-natured  smile,  there 
was  a  certain  pride  mingled  with  it  and  an 
indefinable  secret  certainty  as  to  the  future. 

In  1814  Frangois  Balzac  was  appointed  Di- 
rector of  the  Commissary  Department  of  the 
First  Military  District,  and  the  whole  family 
removed  to  Paris,  settling  in  the  Marais  quar- 
ter. Honore  continued  his  studies  at  two  dif- 
ferent schools  successively,  first  at  the  Lepitre 


30  HONORS  DE  BALZAC 

school,  in  the  Rue  Saint-Louis,  and  then  at 
the  establishment  of  Sganzer  and  Bauzelin,  in 
the  Rue  de  Thorigny,  where  he  continued  to 
display  the  same  mediocrity  and  the  same  in- 
difference regarding  the  tasks  required  of  him. 
Having  finished  the  prescribed  courses,  he  re- 
turned to  his  family,  which  at  this  time  was 
living  at  No.  40,  Rue  du  Temple,  and  his  father 
decided  that  he  should  study  law,  supplement- 
ing the  theoretical  instruction  of  the  law  school 
with  practical  lessons  from  an  attorney  and 
notary.  Honore  was  enrolled  in  the  law  school 
November  4,  1816,  and  at  the  same  time  was 
intrusted  to  a  certain  M.  de  Merville,  who 
undertook  to  teach  him  procedure.  He  spent 
eighteen  months  in  these  studies,  and  was  then 
transferred  to  the  office  of  M.  Passez,  where 
the  same  lapse  of  time  initiated  him  into  the 
secrets  of  a  notary's  duties.  In  the  month  of 
January,  1819,  he  passed  his  examinations  in 
law. 

During  these  three  years  the  life  of  Honore 
de  Balzac  had  been  extremely  laborious.  He 
faithfully  attended  the  law  school  courses  and 


THE  GARRET  31 

copied  legal  and  notarial  documents.  Yet  all 
this  did  not  prevent  him  from  satisfying  his 
literary  tastes  by  attending  the  lectures  given 
at  the  Sorbonne  by  Villemain,  Guizot  and 
Cousin.  Nor  had  he  given  up  his  ambition  to 
write  and  to  become  a  great  man,  as  he  had 
predicted  to  his  sisters,  Laure  and  Laurence. 
Mme.  de  Balzac,  severe  mother  that  she  was, 
had  regulated  the  employment  of  his  time  in 
such  a  way  that  he  could  never  be  at  liberty. 
His  bed-chamber  adjoined  his  father's  study, 
and  he  was  required  to  go  to  bed  at  nine  o'clock 
and  rise  at  five,  under  such  strict  surveillance 
that  he  could  later  write,  in  The  Magic  Skin, 
"Up  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  I  was  bent  be- 
neath the  yoke  of  a  despotism  as*  cold  as  that 
of  a  monastic  order."  In  the  evening,  after 
dinner,  he  rendered  an  account  of  his  day,  and 
was  then  permitted  to  take  a  hand  at  Boston 
or  whist,  at  the  card-table  of  his  grandmother, 
Mme.  Sallambier.  The  latter,  sympathising 
with  her  grandson,  who  was  so  strictly  limited 
in  money  that  he  hardly  had,  from  day  to  day, 
two  crowns  that  he  could  call  his  own,  allowed 


32  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

herself  to  be  beaten  to  the  extent  of  moderate 
sums,  which  Honore  afterwards  spent  in  the 
purchase  of  new  books. 

In  spite  of  this  strict  family  discipline,  Hon- 
ore was  at  this  time  a  congenial  companion, 
full  of  high  spirits  and  eager  to  please.  He  was 
delightfully  ingenuous,  and  laughed  heartily  at 
jests  at  his  own  expense,  frankly  admitting  his 
own  blunders.  But  at  times  he  would  draw 
himself  up  in  a  haughty  manner,  half  in  fun 
and  half  in  earnest:  "Oh!  I  have  not  forgotten 
that  I  am  destined  to  be  a  great  man!" 

Between  the  copying  of  two  writs  Honore 
Balzac  feverishly  continued  his  literary  efforts. 
He  did  not  yet  know  how  to  make  use  of  the 
material  he  had  already  amassed,  ideas  drawn 
from  books  and  observations  drawn  from  life; 
and  he  tried  to  measure  his  strength  with  that 
of  the  classic  writers  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  In  overhauling  Balzac's 
youthful  papers,  Champfleury  has  recovered  the 
greater  part  of  these  essays.  They  show  the 
greatest  variety  of  interests.  Here  are  five 
stanzas  of  wretched  verse  concerning  the  book 


THE  GARRET  33 

of  Job,  two  stanzas  on  Robert-le-Diable,  a 
projected  poem  entitled,  Saint  Louis,  the  rough 
drafts  of  several  novels,  Stenie  or  Philosophic 
Errors,  Falthurne:  the  Manuscript  of  the 
Abbe  Savonati,  translated  from  the  Italian  by 
M.  Matricante,  Primary  School  Principal,  The 
Accursed  Child,  The  Two  Friends,  a  satiric 
sketch,  The  Day's  Work  of  a  Man  of  Letters, 
Some  Fools,  and,  furthermore,  fragments  of 
'  a  work  on  idolatry,  theism  and  natural  re- 
ligion, a  historic  monograph  on  the  Vaudois, 
some  outlined  letters  on  Paris,  literature,  and 
the  general  police  system  of  the  realm  of  let- 
ters. In  his  youthful  enthusiasms,  Honore  de 
Balzac  shifted  from  Beaumarchais  to  Moliere, 
from  Voltaire  to  Rousseau,  from  Racine  to 
Corneille,  and,  contrary  to  his  temperament, 
he  drew  up  plans  for  violent  and  pathetic 
dramas,  suited  to  the  taste  of  the  day. 

After  he  had  passed  his  examinations  in  law, 
and  the  question  arose  of  a  choice  of  career,  his 
father  announced  to  him  the  one  which  he  had 
decided  Honore  should  adopt:  he  should  be  a 
notary.     One  of  their  friends  was  willing  to 


34  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

turn  over  his  practice  to  him  after  a  few  years 
of  apprenticeship.  It  was  an  honourable  posi- 
tion, remunerative  and  much  sought  after. 
Honore  de  Balzac  had  arrived  at  the  turning- 
point  of  his  existence.  Here  were  two  avenues 
before  him,  the  first  that  of  a  notary,  paved 
with  gold,  where  he  might  reap  honour,  profit 
and  esteem,  a  straight  and  easy  route,  restful 
and  without  unknown  dangers;  the  second, 
lying  outside  of  all  the  paths  traced  by  society, 
and  offering  to  those  who  entered  upon  it  only 
a  nebulous  future,  full  of  perils,  uncertain  com- 
bats, care,  privation  and  want.  It  is  a  road 
which  one  must  hew  out  for  oneself,  through 
the  obscure  forest  of  art  and  ideas,  and  many 
are  the  imprudent  who  have  over-estimated 
their  strength  and  perished  there  in  the  midst 
of  indifference  and  contempt. 

Everything  urged  Balzac  towards  a  notary's 
career.  The  family  fortune  had  diminished; 
the  father  had  been  placed  upon  the  retired 
list,  he  had  lost  money  in  investments,  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  cut  down  expenses,  and 
Honore,  as  the  oldest  son,  was  expected  to 


THE  GARRET  35 

make  a  position  for  himself  rapidly.  Why  did 
he  hesitate  to  come  to  a  decision  and  grate- 
fully accept  the  proposition  made  by  his  father? 
The  family  brought  pressure  to  bear,  yet  Hon- 
ore continued  to  say,  "No,  I  will  not  be  a 
notary."  It  was  considered  nothing  less  than 
scandalous.  His  mother  reproached  him  for 
his  ingratitude  and  warned  him  that  he  was 
driving  her  to  despair.  She  was  ashamed  of  a 
son  who  repaid  the  sacrifices  they  had  made 
to  educate  him  with  such  a  want  of  proper 
feeling.  Yet  Honore  persisted  in  his  attitude 
of  revolt,  Honore,  who  throughout  his  child- 
hood and  youth  had  hitherto  always  submitted 
docilely  to  all  the  rules  and  commands  of  the 
family.  "No,  I  will  not  be  a  notary, — I  wish 
to  become  an  author, — a  celebrated  author." 
They  laughed  at  him.  What  promise  of  talent 
had  he  ever  given  to  justify  such  absurd  pre- 
tensions? Was  it  those  wretched  scribblings 
which  had  formerly  caused  so  much  merriment 
that  now  inspired  him  with  such  pride?  Very 
well!  he  must  simply  get  over  it.  His  little 
absurdities  were  all  very  funny,  when  he  was 


36  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

at  the  age  of  frivolity  and  nonsense,  but  now 
that  he  had  come  to  years  of  discretion,  it  was 
time  he  learned  that  life  was  not  play:  "So, 
my  boy,  you  will  be  a  notary."  "No,"  repeats 
Honore,  "I  shall  not."  His  black  eyes  flash, 
his  thick  lips  tremble,  and  he  pleads  his  cause 
before  the  family  tribunal,  the  cause  of  his 
genius  which  no  one  else  has  recognised  and 
which  he  himself  perceives  only  confusedly 
within  him. 

"From  childhood  I  looked  upon  myself  as 
foreordained  to  be  a  great  man,"  he  wrote  in 
The  Magic  Skin,  "I  struck  my  brow  like 
Andre  Chenier,  There  is  something  inside 
there!'  I  seemed  to  feel  within  me  a  thought 
to  be  expressed,  a  system  to  be  established,  a 
science  to  be  expounded.  I  often  thought  of 
myself  as  a  general,  or  an  emperor.  Sometimes 
I  was  Byron,  and  then  again  I  was  nothing. 
After  having  sported  upon  the  pinnacle  of  hu- 
man affairs,  I  discovered  that  all  the  mountains, 
all  the  real  difficulties  still  remained  to  be  sur- 
mounted. The  measureless  self-esteem  which 
seethed  within  me,  the  sublime  belief  in  des- 


THE  GARRET  37 

tiny,  which  perhaps  evolves  into  genius  if  a 
man  does  not  allow  his  soul  to  be  torn  to  tat- 
ters by  contact  with  business  interests,  as  easily 
as  a  sheep  leaves  its  wool  on  the  thorns  of  the 
thicket  through  which  it  passes, — all  this  was 
my  salvation.  I  wished  only  to  work  in  silence, 
to  crown  myself  with  glory,  the  one  mistress 
whom  I  hoped  some  day  to  attain." 

What  he  actually  said  lacked  the  precision 
and  the  form  of  these  phrases,  but  he  was  elo- 
quent, and  his  father,  who  had  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  he  had  an  imbecile  for  a  son,  was 
the  first  to  yield,  in  a  measure,  to  his  argu- 
ments. His  mother  still  resisted,  frightened  at 
the  risks  he  must  run,  far  from  convinced  by 
his  words,  and  without  confidence  in  the  fu- 
ture. Nevertheless,  she  was  forced  to  yield. 
It  was  decided  to  try  an  experiment, — but  it 
was  to  be  kept  a  close  secret,  because  their 
friends  would  never  have  finished  laughing  at 
such  parental  weakness.  Two  years  were  ac- 
corded to  Honore,  within  which  to  give  some 
real  proof  of  his  talent.  Hereupon  he  became 
joyously  expansive,  he  was  sure  that  he  would 


38  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

triumph,  that  he  would  bring  back  a  master- 
piece to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  his  as- 
sembled family  and  friends.  But,  since  a  fail- 
ure was  possible  and  they  wished  to  guard 
themselves  from  such  a  mortification,  his  ac- 
quaintances were  to  be  told  that  Honore  was 
at  Albi,  visiting  a  cousin.  Furthermore,  in  the 
hope  of  bringing  him  back  to  the  straight  path, 
through  the  pinch  of  poverty,  his  mother  in- 
sisted that  nothing  more  should  be  granted  him 
than  an  annual  allowance  of  fifteen  hundred 
francs  (less  than  $300),  and  that  he  should 
meet  all  his  needs  out  of  this  sum.  Honore 
would  have  accepted  a  bare  and  penniless  lib- 
erty with  equal  fervour  and  enthusiasm. 

For  the  sake  of  economy,  the  Balzac  family 
decided  upon  a  provincial  life,  and  removed 
to  Villeparisis,  in  the  department  of  Seine-et- 
Oise,  where  they  secured  a  small  yet  comfort- 
able bourgeois  house.  This  was  in  the  early 
months  of  1819;  Honore,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  was  left  alone  in  Paris. 

They  had  installed  him  in  a  garret,  high  up 
under  a  mansarde  roof,  in  the  Rue  Lesdiguieres, 


THE  GARRET  39 

No.  9,  and  it  was  he  himself  who  chose  this 
lodging  because  of  the  ease  with  which  he 
could  reach  the  Arsenal  library  during  the  day- 
time, while  at  night  he  would  stay  at  home 
and  work. 

Ah,  what  a  long,  deep  breath  he  drew,  and 
how  heartily  he  laughed  his  silent,  inward 
laugh,  as  he  stood  with  crossed  arms  and  let 
his  black  eyes  make  inspection  of  his  cramped 
and  miserable  dwelling.  He  was  free,  free! 
Here  was  his  desk,  covered  with  brown  leather, 
his  ink  and  pens,  here  were  four  chairs  and  a 
cupboard  in  which  to  hang  his  clothes  and 
store  away  a  few  plates  and  his  precious  coffee- 
pot, there  was  his  monastic  bed,  and  beyond  it 
some  shelves  nailed  to  the  wall  to  hold  his 
books.  He  sat  down  and  dreamed,  for  he  had 
just  won  his  first  victory,  he  was  no  longer 
accountable  to  anyone  in  the  world  for  each 
and  every  hour  of  his  life. 

"I  rejoiced,"  he  has  written  in  The  Magic 
Skin,  "at  the  thought  that  I  was  going  to  live 
upon  bread  and  milk,  like  a  hermit  in  the 
Thebiade,  plunged  in  the  world  of  books  and 


40  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ideas,  in  an  inaccessible  sphere,  in  the  midst 
of  all  the  tumult  of  Paris,  the  sphere  of  work 
and  of  silence,  in  which,  after  the  manner  of  a 
chrysalis,  I  was  about  to  build  myself  a  tomb, 
in  order  to  emerge  again  brilliant  and  glorious." 
Next,  he  calculates  what  his  expenses  were 
during  this  studious  retreat:  "Three  cents' 
worth  of  bread,  two  of  milk,  three  of  sausage 
prevented  me  from  dying  of  hunger  and  kept 
my  mind  in  a  lucid  condition.  .  .  .  My  lodg- 
ing cost  me  three  cents  a  day,  I  burned  three 
cents'  worth  of  oil  per  night,  I  did  my  own 
housework,  I  wore  flannel  night-shirts,  in  order 
to  cut  down  my  laundry  bill  to  two  cents  a 
day.  I  warmed  my  room  with  coal  instead  of 
wood,  for  I  found  that  the  cost  divided  by  the 
number  of  days  in  the  year  never  exceeded 
two  cents.  I  had  a  supply  of  suits,  under- 
clothing and  shoes  sufficient  to  last  a  year,  and 
I  did  not  need  to  dress  excepting  to  go  to  the 
libraries  and  do  a  few  errands.  The  sum  total 
of  these  expenses  amounted  to  only  eighteen 
cents,  which  left  me  two  cents  over  for  emer- 
gencies."    Balzac   somewhat   exaggerates   his 


THE  GARRET  41 

poverty  and  reduces  his  expenses  to  suit  the 
pleasure  of  his  poetic  fantasy,  but  undoubtedly 
it  was  a  brusque  transition  from  the  bourgeois 
comfort  of  family  life  to  the  austerity  of  his 
garret. 

Nevertheless,  he  was  exuberant  and  joyous, — 
as  irresponsible  as  a  young  colt  freshly  turned 
out  to  pasture.  His  sister  Laure,  now  living  at 
Villeparisis  with  her  parents,  continued  to  re- 
ceive his  confidences.  He  wrote  her  the  most 
minute  details  of  his  solitary  existence, — jest- 
ing and  burlesquing  in  a  vein  of  frank  and 
familiar  humour. 

"You  ask,  my  dear  sister,  for  details  of  my 
domestic  arrangements  and  manner  of  living; 
well,  here  they  are: 

"I  wrote  directly  to  mamma,  in  regard  to  the 
cost  of  my  purchases, — a  little  subterfuge  to 
get  an  increased  allowance, — but  now  you  are 
going  to  tremble:  it  is  much  worse  than  a 
purchase, — I  have  acquired  a  servant! 

"'A  servant!  What  are  you  thinking  of, 
my  brother?' 

"Yes;  a  servant.    He  has  as  odd  a  name  as 


42  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  servant  of  Dr.  Macquart  (Balzac's  physi- 
cian); his  is  called  Tranquil;  mine  is  called 
Myself.  A  bad  bargain,  beyond  question !  My- 
self is  lazy,  awkward,  and  improvident.  When 
his  master  is  hungry  or  thirsty,  he  sometimes 
has  neither  bread  nor  water  to  offer  him;  he 
does  not  even  know  how  to  protect  him  from 
the  wind  which  blows  in  through  door  and 
window,  as  Tulou  blows  upon  his  flute,  but  less 
agreeably. 

"As  soon  as  I  am  awake,  I  ring  for  Myself, 
and  he  makes  up  my  bed.  Then  he  starts 
in  sweeping,  but  he  is  far  from  expert  in  that 
line  of  exercise. 

"'Myself!' 

"  'What  do  you  wish,  sir?' 

"  'Look  at  that  spider's-web,  where  that  big 
fly  is  buzzing  loud  enough  to  deafen  me !  Look 
at  the  sweepings  scattered  under  the  bed! 
Look  at  the  dust  on  the  window-panes,  so  thick 
that  I  can  hardly  see!' 

"  'But,  Monsieur,  I  do  not  see  .  .  S 

"'Come,  hold  your  tongue!  No  answering 
back!' 


THE  GARRET  43 

"Accordingly,  he  holds  his  tongue. 

"He  brushes  my  coat  and  he  sweeps  my  room 
while  he  sings,  and  he  sings  while  he  sweeps, 
laughs  while  he  talks,  and  talks  while  he 
laughs.  All  things  considered,  he  is  a  good 
lad.  He  has  carefully  put  away  my  linen  in 
the  wardrobe  beside  the  chimney,  after  first 
lining  it  with  white  paper;  out  of  six  cents' 
worth  of  blue  paper,  with  the  border  thrown  in, 
he  has  made  me  a  screen.  He  has  painted  the 
room  white,  from  the  book-shelves  to  the  chim- 
ney. When  he  ceases  to  be  satisfied, — a  thing 
which  has  not  yet  occurred,— I  shall  send  him 
to  Villeparisis,  to  get  some  fruit,  or  else  to 
Albi,  to  see  how  my  cousin  is."  (April  12, 
1819.) 

Honore  de  Balzac  was  intoxicated  with  his 
liberty,  and  revelled  in  it  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent. He  could  dream,  idle,  read  or  work,  ac- 
cording to  his  mood.  Ideas  swarmed  in  his 
brain,  and  every  day  he  drafted  projects  for 
tragedies,  comedies,  novels  and  operas.  He  did 
not  know  which  of  all  these  to  work  out  to  a 
finish,  for  every  one  of  them  seemed  to  him 


44  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

capable  of  being  developed  into  a  masterpiece. 
He  brooded  over  a  possible  novel  which  was 
to  be  called  Coquecigrue,  but  he  doubted 
whether  he  had  the  ability  to  carry  it  out  ac- 
cording to  his  conception;  so,  after  long  hesita- 
tion, he  decided  in  favour  of  a  classic  drama  in 
verse,  Cromwell,  which  he  considered  the 
finest  subject  in  modern  history.  Honor  e  de 
Balzac  rhymed  ahead  desperately,  laboriously, 
for  versification  was  not  his  strong  point,  and 
he  had  infinite  trouble  in  expressing,  with  the 
required  dignity,  the  lamentations  of  the  Queen 
of  England.  His  study  of  the  great  masters 
hampered  him:  "I  devour  our  four  tragic  au- 
thors. Crebillon  reassures  me,  Voltaire  fills  me 
with  terror,  Corneille  transports  me,  and  Ra- 
cine makes  me  throw  down  my  pen."  Never- 
theless, he  refused  to  renounce  his  hopes.  He 
had  promised  to  produce  a  masterpiece,  he  was 
pledged  to  achieve  a  masterpiece,  and  the  price 
of  it  was  to  be  a  blessed  independence. 

In  the  silence  of  his  mansarde  garret  he 
worked,  with  his  brow  congested,  his  head  en- 
veloped in  a  Dantesque  cap,  his  legs  wrapped 


THE  GARRET  45 

in  a  venerable  Touraine  great-coat,  his  shoul- 
ders guaranteed  against  the  cold,  thanks  to  an 
old  family  shawl.  He  toiled  over  his  alexan- 
drian  lines,  he  sent  fragments  of  his  tragedy 
to  Laure,  asking  her  for  advice:  "Don't  flat- 
ter me,  be  severe."  Yet  he  had  high  ambitions: 
"I  want  my  tragedy  to  be  the  breviary  of 
peoples  and  of  kings!"  he  wrote.  "I  must  make 
my  debut  with  a  masterpiece,  or  wring  my 
neck." 

Meanwhile  Cromwell  did  not  wholly  absorb 
him.  Honore  de  Balzac  was  already  a  fluent 
writer,  full  of  clamorous  ideas  and  schemes  that 
each  day  were  born  anew.  Between  two  speeches 
of  his  play,  he  would  sketch  a  brief  romance  of 
the  old-fashioned  type,  draft  the  rhymes  of  a 
comic  opera,  which  he  would  later  decide  to 
give  up,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  a 
composer,  hampered  as  he  was  by  his  isolation. 
In  addition  to  his  literary  occupations,  he  took 
an  anxious  interest  in  politics.  "I  am  more 
than  ever  attached  to  my  career,"  he  wrote  to 
his  sister  Laure,  "for  a  host  of  reasons,  of  which 
I  will  give  you  only  those  that  you  would  not 


46  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

be  likely  to  guess  of  your  own  accord.  Our 
revolutions  are  very  far  from  being  ended ;  con- 
sidering the  way  that  things  are  going,  I  fore- 
see many  a  coming  storm.  Good  or  bad,  the 
representative  system  demands  immense  talent; 
big  writers  will  necessarily  be  sought  after  in 
political  crises,  for  do  they  not  supplement 
their  other  knowledge  with  the  spirit  of  obser- 
vation and  a  profound  understanding  of  the 
human  heart? 

"If  I  should  become  a  shining  light  (which, 
of  course,  is  precisely  the  thing  that  we  do  not 
yet  know),  I  may  some  day  achieve  something 
besides  a  literary  reputation,  and  add  to  the 
title  of  'great  writer'  that  of  great  citizen.  That 
is  an  ambition  which  is  also  tempting!  Noth- 
ing, nothing  but  love  and  glory  can  ever  fill  the 
vast  recesses  of  my  heart,  within  which  you  are 
cherished  as  you  deserve  to  be." 

In  order  to  enlighten  himself  in  regard  to  the 
legislative  elections,  he  appealed  to  one  of  his 
correspondents,  M.  Dablin,  a  rich  hardware 
merchant  and  friend  of  the  family,  who  had 
often  come  to  the  aid  of  his  slender  purse.    Ho 


THE  GARRET  47 

asked  him  for  a  list  of  the  deputies,  and  in- 
quired what  their  political  opinions  were  and 
how  the  parties  would  be  divided  in  the  new 
Chamber,  and  when  he  did  not  receive  as 
prompt  an  answer  as  he  had  expected,  he  re- 
peated his  questions  with  a  certain  show  of  im- 
patience. At  this  period  of  isolation,  M.  Dab- 
lin  was  also  his  factotum  and  his  mentor.  Bal- 
zac commissioned  him  to  buy  a  Bible,  carefully 
specifying  that  the  text  must  be  in  French  as 
well  as  Latin;  he  wished  to  read  the  Sicilian 
Vespers;  he  felt  it  his  duty,  as  a  simple  soldier 
in  the  ranks  of  literature,  to  attend  a  perfor- 
mance of  Cinna,  by  the  great  General  Corneille, 
from  the  safe  seclusion  of  a  screened  box,  and 
he  would  be  glad  to  see  Girodet's  Endymion  at 
the  Exposition,  "some  morning  when  there  is  no 
one  else  there,"  in  order  not  to  betray  his  in- 
cognito ! 

How  happy  he  was  during  those  hours  of  lib- 
erty that  were  never  to  return  and  which  he 
was  destined  to  remember  with  unparalleled 
emotion,  in  his  subsequent  inferno  of  ceaseless 
toil!    He  was  utterly  irresponsible,  he  made  an 


48  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

orgy  out  of  a  melon  or  a  jar  of  preserves  sent 
him  from  Villeparisis,  and  he  decorated  his 
garret  with  flowers,  which  were  the  gift  of 
Laure,  his  beloved  confidante.  He  had  his 
dreams  and  his  hours  of  exaltation,  when  he 
listened  to  the  mingled  sounds  of  Paris,  which 
rose  faintly  to  his  dormer  window  during  the 
beautiful  golden  evenings  of  springtime,  even- 
ings that  seemed  to  young  and  ambitious  hearts 
so  heavy-laden  with  ardent  melancholy  and 
hope;  and  he  would  cry  aloud:  "I  realised  to- 
day that  wealth  does  not  make  happiness,  and 
that  the  time  that  I  am  spending  here  will  be  a 
source  of  sweet  memories!  To  live  according  to 
my  fantasy,  to  work  according  to  my  taste  and 
convenience,  to  do  nothing  at  all  if  I  so  choose, 
to  build  beautiful  air-castles  for  the  future,  to 
think  of  you  and  know  that  you  are  happy,  to 
have  Rousseau's  Julie  for  my  mistress,  La  Fon- 
taine and  Moliere  for  my  friends,  Racine  for 
my  master  and  the  cemetery  of  Pere-Lachaise 
for  my  promenade!  ...  Oh!  if  all  this  could 
last  forever!" 

And  his  twenty  years,  burning  with  the  fever 


THE  GARRET  49 

of  vast  desires,  betray  themselves  in  a  single 
exclamation:  "To  be  celebrated  and  to  be 
loved!" 

But  there  were  times  when  he  left  his  garret 
at  nightfall,  mingled  with  the  crowd  and  there 
exercised  those  marvellous  faculties  of  his  which 
verged  upon  prodigy.  He  has  described  them 
in  a  short  tale,  Facino  Cano,  and  they  appear  to 
have  been  an  exceptional  gift.  "I  lived  fru- 
gally," he  writes ;  "I  had  accepted  all  the  condi- 
tions of  monastic  life,  so  essential  to  those  who 
toil.  Even  when  the  weather  was  fine,  I  rarely 
allowed  myself  a  short  walk  along  the  Boule- 
vard Bourdon.  One  passion  alone  drew  me 
away  from  my  studious  habits ;  yet  was  not  this 
itself  a  form  of  study?  I  used  to  go  to  observe 
the  manners  and  customs  of  suburban  Paris,  its 
inhabitants  and  their  characteristics.  Being  as 
ill-clad  and  as  careless  of  appearances  as  the 
labourers  themselves,  I  was  not  mistrusted  by 
them,  I  was  able  to  mingle  with  groups  of  them, 
to  watch  them  concluding  their  bargains  and 
quarrelling  together  at  the  hour  when  they  quit 
their  work.    In  my  case,  observation  had  al- 


50  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ready  become  intuitive,  it  penetrated  the  soul 
without  neglecting  the  body,  or  rather  it 
grasped  so  well  the  exterior  details  that  it 
straightway  passed  above  and  beyond  them;  it 
gave  me  the  faculty  of  living  the  life  of  the  in- 
dividual on  whom  it  was  exerted,  by  permitting 
me  to  substitute  myself  for  him,  just  as  the  der- 
vish in  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights  took  the 
body  and  soul  of  those  persons  over  whom  he 
pronounced  certain  words. 

"To  throw  off  my  own  habits,  to  become 
some  one  else  than  myself,  through  an  intoxi- 
cation of  the  moral  faculties,  and  to  play  this 
game  at  will,  such  was  my  way  of  amusing 
myself.  To  what  do  I  owe  this  gift?  Is  it  a 
form  of  second  sight?  Is  it  one  of  those  qual- 
ities, the  abuse  of  which  might  lead  to  mad- 
ness? I  have  never  sought  the  sources  of  this 
power;  I  possess  it  and  make  use  of  it,  that  is 

Some  evenings  he  would  not  go  out,  because 
ideas  were  surging  in  his  brain;  but  if  the  re- 
bellious rhymes  refused  to  come  he  would  de- 
scend to  the  second  floor  and  play  some  harm- 


THE  GARRET  51 

less  games  with  certain  "persons/'  or  it  might 
be  a  hand  at  boston,  for  small  stakes,  at  which 
he  sometimes  won  as  much  as  three  francs.  His 
resounding  laughter  could  be  heard,  echoing 
down  the  staircase  as  he  remounted  to  his  gar- 
ret, exulting  over  his  extensive  winnings.  Noth- 
ing, however,  could  turn  him  aside  from  his 
project  of  writing  Cromwell,  and  he  set  himself 
a  date  on  which  he  should  present  his  tragedy 
to  the  members  of  his  family  gathered  together 
for  the  purpose  of  hearing  him  read  it.  After 
idling  away  long  days  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes 
or  in  Pere-Lachaise,  he  shut  himself  in,  and 
wrote  with  that  feverish  zeal  which  later  on  he 
himself  christened  "Balzacian";  revising,  eras- 
ing, condensing,  expanding,  alternating  between 
despair  and  enthusiasm,  believing  himself  a 
genius,  and  yet  within  the  same  hour,  in  the 
face  of  a  phrase  that  refused  to  come  right,  la- 
menting that  he  was  utterly  destitute  of  talent; 
yet  throughout  this  ardent  and  painful  effort 
of  creation,  over  which  he  groaned,  his  strength 
of  purpose  never  abandoned  him,  and  in  spite 
of  everything  he  inflexibly  pursued  his  ungov- 


52  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

erned  course  towards  the  goal  which  he  had  set 
himself.  At  last  he  triumphed,  the  tragedy  was 
finished,  and,  his  heart  swelling  with  hope, 
Honore  de  Balzac  presented  to  his  family  the 
Cromwell  on  which  he  relied  to  assure  his 
liberty. 

The  members  of  the  family  were  gathered  to- 
gether in  the  parlour  at  Villeparisis,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  judging  the  masterpiece  and  deciding 
whether  the  rebel  who  had  refused  to  be  a  no- 
tary had  not  squandered  the  time  accorded  him 
in  which  to  give  proof  of  his  future  prospects 
as  an  author.  The  father  and  mother  were 
there,  both  anxious,  the  one  slightly  sceptical, 
yet  hoping  that  his  son  would  reveal  himself  as 
a  man  of  talent;  the  other  as  mistrustful  as 
ever,  but  at  the  same  time  much  distressed  to 
see  her  son  so  thin  and  sallow,  for  during  those 
fifteen  months  of  exile  he  had  lost  his  high 
colour  and  his  eyes  were  feverish  and  his  lips 
trembling,  in  spite  of  his  fine  air  of  assurance. 
Laurence  was  there,  young,  lively  and  self- 
willed;  and  Laure  also,  sharing  the  secret  of  the 
tragedy  and  sighing  and  trembling  on  behalf  of 


THE  GARRET  53 

Honore,  her  favourite  brother.  It  was  a  difficult 
audience  to  conquer,  for  they  had  also  invited 
for  that  evening  such  friends  as  knew  of  the 
test  imposed  upon  the  oldest  son;  and  these 
same  friends,  while  perhaps  regarding  it  as  a 
piece  of  parental  weakness,  nevertheless  now 
played  the  role  of  judges. 

"At  the  end  of  April,  1820,"  relates  Mme. 
Surville,  "he  arrived  at  my  father's  home  with 
his  finished  tragedy.  He  was  much  elated,  for 
he  counted  upon  scoring  a  triumph.  Accord- 
ingly, he  desired  that  a  few  friends  should  be 
present  at  the  reading.  And  he  did  not  forget 
the  one  who  had  so  strangely  underestimated 
him.* 

"The  friends  arrived,  and  the  solemn  test  be- 
gan. But  the  reader's  enthusiasm  rapidly  died 
out  as  he  discovered  how  little  impression  he 
was  making  and  noted  the  coldness  or  the  con- 
sternation on  the  faces  before  him.  I  was  one 
of  those  who  shared  in  the  consternation.  What 

*  A  friend,  who  judged  him  solely  on  the  strength  of  his 
excellent  handwriting,  declared,  when  the  question  arose 
of  choosing  a  position  for  him,  that  he  would  never  make 
anything  better  than  a  good  shipping  clerk. 


54  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

I  suffered  during  that  reading  was  a  foretaste 
of  the  terrors  I  was  destined  to  experience  at 
the  opening  performances  of  Vautrin  and 
Quinola. 

"With  Cromwell  he  had  not  yet  avenged  him- 
self upon  M. (the  friend  of  whom  men- 
tion has  just  been  made) ;  for,  blunt  as  ever,  the 
latter  pronounced  his  opinion  of  the  tragedy  in 
the  most  uncompromising  terms.  Honore  pro- 
tested, and  declined  to  accept  his  judgment;  but 
his  other  auditors,  though  in  milder  terms,  all 
agreed  that  the  work  was  extremely  faulty. 

"My  father  voiced  the  consensus  of  opinion 
when  he  proposed  that  they  should  have  Crom- 
well read  by  some  competent  and  impartial  au- 
thority. M.  Surville,*  engineer  of  the  Ourcq 
Canal,  who  was  later  to  become  Honore's 
brother-in-law,  suggested  a  former  professor  of 
his  at  the  Polytechnic  School. 

"My  father  accepted  this  dean  of  literature 
as  decisive  judge. 

"After  a  conscientious  reading,  the  good  old 

*Mlle.  Laure  de  Balzac  was  married  in  May,  1820,  one 
month  after  the  reading  of  Cromwell,  to  M.  Midy  de 
Greneraye  Surville,  engineer  of  Bridges  and  Highways. 


THE  GARRET  55 

man  declared  that  the  author  of  Cromwell  had 
better  follow  any  other  career  in  the  world  than 
that  of  literature" 

Such  was  the  judgment  passed  upon  this  mas- 
terpiece which  had  been  intended  to  be  "the 
breviary  of  peoples  and  of  kings !"  Yet  these 
successive  condemnations  in  no  way  shook  Bal- 
zac's confidence  in  his  own  genius.  He  wished 
to  be  a  great  man,  and  in  spite  of  all  predictions 
to  the  contrary  he  was  going  to  be  a  great  man. 
No  doubt  he  re-read  his  tragedy  in  cold  blood 
and  laughed  at  it,  realising  all  its  emphatic  and 
bombastic  mediocrity.  But  it  was  a  dead  issue, 
and  now  with  a  new  tensity  of  purpose  he 
looked  forward  to  the  works  which  he  pre- 
visioned  in  the  nebulous  and  ardent  future;  no 
setback  could  turn  him  aside  from  the  path 
which  he  had  traced  for  himself. 


CHAPTER   III 

HIS  APPRENTICESHIP 

fTIHE  precious  hours  of  liberty,  in  the  man- 
sarde  garret,  had  taken  flight.  After  fif- 
teen months  of  independence,  study  and  work, 
Honore  returned  to  the  family  circle,  summoned 
home  by  his  mother.  She  desired,  no  doubt,  to 
care  for  him  and  restore  his  former  robust 
health  which  had  been  undermined  by  a  star- 
vation diet,  but  she  also  wished  to  keep  him 
under  strict  surveillance,  since  privation  had 
failed  to  bend  his  will  and  the  disaster  of  his 
tragedy  had  not  turned  him  aside  from  his  pur- 
pose. Honore,  unconquered  by  defeat,  had 
asked  that  they  should  assure  him  an  annual 
allowance  of  fifteen  hundred  francs,  in  order 
that  he  might  redeem  his  failure  at  an  early 
date.  This  request  was  refused,  and  nothing 
was  guaranteed  him  beyond  food  and  lodging, 
56 


HIS  APPRENTICESHIP  57 

absolutely  nothing,  unless  he  submitted  to  their 
wishes. 

What  years  of  struggle  those  were !  Honore 
de  Balzac  refused  to  despair  of  his  destiny,  and 
he  valiantly  entered  upon  the  hardest  of  all  his 
battles,  without  support  and  without  encour- 
agement, in  the  midst  of  hostile  surroundings. 
He  used  to  go  from  Villeparisis  to  Paris,  seek- 
ing literary  gatherings,  knocking  at  the  doors  of 
publishers,  exhausting  himself  in  the  search  for 
some  opening.  And  how  could  he  work  under 
the  paternal  roof?  Nowhere  in  the  house  could 
he  find  the  necessary  quiet,  and  he  was  prac- 
tically looked  upon  as  an  incapable,  an  outcast 
who  would  be  a  disgrace  to  his  family.  He 
himself  felt  the  precariousness  of  his  present 
situation,  and  in  consequence  became  taciturn, 
since  he  could  not  communicate  to  the  others 
his  own  unwavering  faith  in  his  future,  and  he 
was  forced  to  admit  that,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  he  had  not  yet  given  them  any  earnest  of 
future  success. 

In  order  to  demonstrate  that  it  is  not  impossi- 
ble to  live  by  literature,  and  more  especially  for 


58  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  sake  of  establishing  his  material  indepen- 
dence, he  was  ready  to  accept  any  sort  of  a  task 
whatever.  And  all  the  more  so,  since  his  mother 
had  not  given  up  hope  of  making  him  accept 
one  of  those  fine  careers  in  which  an  industrious 
young  fellow  may  win  esteem  and  fortune.  The 
"spectre  of  the  daily  grind"  stared  him  in  the 
face,  and  although  he  had  escaped  a  notary's 
career,  through  the  death  of  the  man  to  whose 
practice  he  was  to  have  succeeded,  they  gave 
him  to  understand  that  the  sombre  portals  of  a 
government  position  might  open  to  him. 

"Count  me  among  the  dead,"  he  wrote  to  his 
sister  Laure,  who,  since  her  marriage,  had  re- 
sided at  Bayeux,  "if  they  clap  that  extinguisher 
over  me.  I  should  turn  into  a  trick  horse,  who 
does  his  thirty  or  forty  rounds  per  hour,  and 
eats,  drinks  and  sleeps  at  the  appointed  mo- 
ment. And  they  call  that  living! — that  me- 
chanical rotation,  that  perpetual  recurrence  of 
the  same  thing!" 

In  spite  of  a  few  short  trips,  and  occasional 
brief  sojourns  in  Paris,  in  the  one  foothold 
which  his  father  had  retained  there,  he  was  con- 


HIS  APPRENTICESHIP  59 

strained  by  necessity  to  remain  beneath  the 
family  roof-tree.  They  gave  him  his  food  and 
his  clothing,  but  no  money.  He  suffered  from 
this,  and  groaned  and  grumbled  as  if  he  were 
in  a  state  of  slavery.  Nevertheless,  his  un- 
quenchable good  humour  and  his  determination 
to  make  his  name  famous  and  to  acquire  a  for- 
tune saved  him  from  the  impotence  of  melan- 
choly. He  drew  spirited  sketches  of  the  family 
and  sent  them  to  Laure,  to  prove  to  her  that 
he  was  resigned. 

He  admired  his  father's  impassiveness  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  confusion  of  the  household,  like 
an  Egyptian  pyramid,  indifferent  to  the  hurri- 
cane. The  fine  old  man  who  expected  to  live 
upwards  of  a  hundred  years  and  share  with  the 
State,  as  last  survivor,  the  profits  of  a  Lafarge 
tontine  policy  in  which  he  held  a  share,  a  sum 
amounting  to  millions,  studied  the  writings  of 
the  Chinese  because  they  were  famous  for  their 
longevity.  He  had  lost  nothing  of  his  serenity 
nor  of  his  caustic  wit,  and  Honore  confessed 
that  he  himself  had  very  nearly  choked,  laugh- 
ing at  some  of  his  jests.    Nevertheless  he  was 


60  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

not  a  father  in  whom  one  could  confide,  and 
the  son,  isolated  and  forced  to  conceal  his  feel- 
ings, found  relief  only  in  his  brief  periods  of 
work  in  Paris,  and  in  observing  the  habits  and 
manners  of  the  family  circle.  He  witnessed  the 
preparations  for  the  marriage  of  his  sister,  Lau- 
rence, to  M.  de  Montzaigle,  visiting  inspector 
of  the  city  imposts  of  Paris,  and  he  drew  this 
picturesque  portrait  of  his  future  brother-in- 
law:  "He  is  somewhat  taller  than  Surville;  his 
features  are  quite  ordinary,  neither  homely  nor 
handsome;  his  mouth  is  widowed  of  the  upper 
teeth,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  assuming  that 
it  will  contract  a  second  marriage,  since  mother 
nature  forbids  it;  this  widowhood  ages  him  con- 
siderably, but  on  the  whole  he  is  not  so  bad — 
as  husbands  go.  He  writes  poetry,  he  is  a  mar- 
vellous shot;  if  he  fires  twenty  times,  he  brings 
down  not  less  than  twenty-six  victims!  He  has 
been  in  only  two  tournaments,  and  has  taken 
the  prize  both  times ;  he  is  equally  strong  in  bil- 
liards; he  rhymes,  he  hunts,  he  shoots,  he  drives, 
he  .  .  .  ,  he  .  .  .  ,  he  .  .  .  And  you  feel  that 
all  these  accomplishments,  carried  to  the  high- 


HIS  APPRENTICESHIP  61 

est  degree  in  one  and  the  same  man,  have  given 
him  great  presumption ;  that  is  the  trouble  with 
him  up  to  a  certain  point,  and  that  certain 
point,  I  am  very  much  afraid,  is  the  highest  de- 
gree in  the  thermometer  of  self-conceit." 

Honore  admitted,  however,  that  his  sister 
Laurence  would  be  happy  in  her  marriage  and 
that  M.  de  Montzaigle  was  a  thorough  gentle- 
man; but  it  was  not  after  this  fashion  that  he 
himself  understood  marriage  and  love:  "Pres- 
ents, gifts,  futile  objects,  and  two,  three  or  four 
months  of  courtship  do  not  constitute  happi- 
ness," he  wrote;  "that  is  a  flower  which  grows 
apart  and  is  very  difficult  to  find." 

Meanwhile  Honore  de  Balzac,  tired  of  the 
discomfort  of  trying  to  work  at  Villeparisis,  be- 
tween his  ever-distrustful  mother  and  his  in- 
dulgent but  sceptical  father,  hired  a  room  in 
Paris,  no  one  knows  by  what  means.  There  he 
shut  himself  in,  and  there  he  composed  the  nov- 
els of  his  youthful  period,  having  for  the  time 
being  put  aside  his  dreams  of  glory.  To  earn 
money  and  to  be  free,  that  was  his  immediate 
necessity.    Later  on,  when  he  had  an  assured 


62  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

living,  he  would  be  able  to  undertake  those 
great  works,  the  vague  germs  of  which  he  even 
then  carried  within  him. 

His  repeated  efforts  at  last  bore  fruit;  he 
found  collaborators,  namely,  Poitevin  de  Saint- 
Alme,  who  signed  himself  "Villargle,"  Amedee 
de  Bast,  and  Horace  Raisson,  and  then  a  pub- 
lisher, Hubert,  who  undertook  to  bring  out  his 
first  novel.  It  was  issued  in  1822,  in  four  vol- 
umes, under  the  somewhat  cumbrous  title  of 
The  Heiress  of  Birague,  a  Story  based  upon  the 
Manuscripts  of  Don  Rage,  Ex-Prior  of  the 
Benedictines,  and  published  by  his  two 
Nephews,  A.  de  Villargle  and  Lord  R'Hoone. 
This  work  brought  him  in  eight  hundred  francs 
in  the  form  of  long-period  promissory  notes, 
which  he  was  obliged  to  discount  at  a  usurious 
rate,  besides  sharing  the  profits  with  his  col- 
laborator. Nevertheless  the  fact  that  he  had 
earned  money  renewed  his  faith  in  his  ap- 
proaching deliverance,  and  he  uttered  a  pro- 
longed and  joyous  shout.  He  informed  Laure 
of  his  success,  and  suggested  that  she  should  rec- 
ommend his  novel  as  a  masterpiece  to  the  ladies 


HIS  APPRENTICESHIP  63 

of  Bayeux,  promising  that  he  would  send  her 
a  sample  copy  on  condition  that  she  should  not 
lend  it  to  any  one  for  fear  that  it  might  injure 
his  publisher  by  decreasing  the  sales.  Straight- 
way he  began  to  build  an  edifice  of  figures,  cal- 
culating what  his  literary  labours  would  bring 
him  in  year  by  year,  and  feeling  that  he  already 
had  a  fortune  in  his  grasp.  This  was  the  start- 
ing point  of  those  fantastic  computations  which 
he  successively  drew  up  for  every  book  he  wrote, 
computations  that  always  played  him  false,  but 
that  he  continued  to  make  unweariedly  to  the 
day  of  his  death. 

From  this  time  on,  Honore  de  Balzac  devoted 
himself  for  a  time,  with  a  sort  of  feverish  zeal, 
to  the  trade  of  novel-maker  for  the  circulating 
libraries.  He  realised  all  the  baseness  of  it,  but, 
he  argued,  would  he  not  be  indebted  to  it  for 
the  preservation  of  his  talent?  The  Heiress  of 
Birague  was  followed  by  Jean-Louis,  or  the 
Foundling  Girl,  published  by  Hubert  in  four 
volumes,  for  which  he  received  thirteen  hundred 
francs.  His  price  was  going  up,  and  his  pro- 
ductive energy  increased  in  proportion.    Still 


64  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

working  for  Hubert,  he  followed  Jean-Louis 
with  Clo  tilde  de  Lusignan,  or  the  Handsome 
Jew,  "a  manuscript  found  in  the  archives  of 
Provence  and  published  by  Lord  R'Hoone,"  in 
four  volumes.  It  brought  him  in  two  thousand, 
a  princely  sum ! 

Henceforward,  nothing  could  stop  him  on  his 
road  to  success,  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  he 
would  soon  earn  the  twenty  thousand  francs 
which  were  destined  to  form  the  basis  of  his 
fortune.  He  changed  publishers  and,  in  1822, 
he  brought  out  through  Pollet,  within  the  space 
of  a  few  months,  The  Centenarian  or  the  Two 
BeringheldSy  by  Horace  de  Saint- Aubin,  in  eight 
volumes,  and  The  Vicar  of  the  Ardennes,  which 
appeared  over  the  same  pseudonym,  and  for 
which  he  had  requested  the  collaboration  of  his 
sister  and  his  brother-in-law,  Surville. 

This  was  a  year  of  unbridled  production. 
Honore  lived  in  a  state  of  exaltation ;  one  of  his 
letters  to  Laure  was  signed,  "writer  for  the  pub- 
lic and  French  poet  at  two  francs  a  page."  He 
had  almost  realised  his  dream  of  liberty.  But 
when  this  fever  of  writing  chapter  after  chapter, 


HIS  APPRENTICESHIP  65 

novel  after  novel,  had  cooled  off,  he  realised 
what  wretched  stuff  they  were,  and  he  regret- 
ted the  precious  hours  of  his  youth  that  they 
were  costing  him,  because  of  his  impatience  to 
prove  his  talent  by  results.  He  admitted  this 
to  his  sister,  frankly  and  with  dignity,  in  the 
full  confidence  of  his  inborn  gift. 

"At  all  events,  I  am  beginning  to  feel  and  es- 
timate my  strength.  To  know  what  I  am 
worth,  and  yet  sacrifice  the  first  flower  of  my 
ideas  on  such  stupidities!  It  is  heart-breaking! 
Oh,  if  I  only  had  the  cash,  I  would  find  my 
niche  fast  enough  and  I  would  write  books  that 
might  last  a  while ! 

"My  ideas  are  changing  so  fast  that  before 
long  my  whole  method  will  change !  In  a  short 
time  the  difference  between  the  me  of  today 
and  the  me  of  tomorrow  will  be  the  difference 
between  a  youth  of  twenty  and  a  man  of  thirty. 
I  think  and  think,  and  my  ideas  are  ripening;  I 
realise  that  nature  has  treated  me  kindly  in 
giving  me  the  heart  and  brain  that  I  have.  Be- 
lieve in  me,  dear  sister,  for  I  have  need  of  some 
one  who  believes,  though  I  have  not  given  up 


66  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  hope  of  being  somebody  one  of  these  days.  I 
realise  now  that  Cromwell  did  not  even  have 
the  merit  of  being  an  embryo;  and  as  to 
my  novels,  they  are  not  worth  a  damn;  and, 
what  is  more,  they  are  no  incentive  to  do  bet- 
ter." 

This  letter  was  dated  from  Villeparisis,  on  a 
certain  Tuesday  evening,  in  the  year  1822; 
Honore  de  Balzac  was  twenty- three  years  old ; 
he  read  his  destiny  clearly,  but  he  was  fated  to 
achieve  it  only  after  surmounting  the  hardest 
obstacles,  by  "the  sweat  of  toil,"  to  borrow  his 
own  vigorous  phrase.  While  waiting  for  that 
desired  epoch,  when  he  would  be  able  to  be  him- 
self and  nothing  else,  he  was  forced  to  continue 
to  turn  the  millstone  that  ground  out  the  worth- 
less grain.  In  1823,  his  productive  power  seems 
to  have  fallen  off,  either  because  he  had  ex- 
hausted the  patience  of  his  publishers,  or  for 
some  other  reason.  During  that  year  he  pub- 
lished nothing  excepting  The  Last  Fairy  or  the 
New  Wonderful  Lamp,  brought  out  by  Barba. 

After  the  hopes  begotten  in  1822  and  his 
amazing  effort  of  rapid  production,  Balzac  once 


HIS  APPRENTICESHIP  67 

more  encountered  his  old  difficulty  of  placing 
his  stories,  and  for  nearly  three  years  he  waged 
a  fruitless  fight.  In  order  to  disarm  his  mother 
and  give  proof  of  his  good  will,  he  gave  lessons 
to  his  brother  Henri  and  to  young  de  Berny, 
the  son  of  a  neighbouring  family  in  Villeparisis ; 
he  exhausted  himself  in  efforts  that  for  the  most 
part  were  in  vain.  Nothing,  however,  broke 
down  his  courage.  He  succeeded  in  1824  in 
publishing  through  Buissot  Annette  and  the 
Criminal,  in  four  volumes,  which  was  a  con- 
tinuation of  The  Vicar  of  the  Ardennes,  and  was 
confiscated  by  the  police,  and  then  through  De- 
longchamps  an  Impartial  History  of  the  Jesuits. 
Finally,  Urbain  Canel  bought  his  Wann-Chlore 
in  1825,  and  that  was  the  last  of  the  novels  of 
his  youth. 

It  is  interesting  to  ask,  how  much  headway 
Honore  de  Balzac  had  made  since  the  days  of 
his  vast  enthusiasm  over  Cromwell,  in  his  gar- 
ret in  the  Rue  Lesdiguieres.  Had  he  drawn  any 
nearer  to  fame,  that  "pretty  woman  whom  he 
did  not  know/'  and  whose  kisses  he  so  eagerly 
desired  during  his  long  nights  of  labour  and  of 


68  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

dreams?  He  has  descended  into  the  literary 
arena  with  valiant  heart,  as  a  soldier  willing 
to  serve  in  the  ranks,  yet  cherishing  the  legiti- 
mate hope  of  earning  promotion.  He  had  not 
shrunk  from  the  humblest  tasks,  and  yet,  after 
three  years  of  struggle,  he  found  himself  back 
at  the  starting  point.  His  novels  had  brought 
him  neither  fame  nor  fortune,  and  he  had  not 
even  acquired  the  leisure  that  was  necessary  to 
him  before  he  could  achieve  those  works  which 
seethed  and  teemed  within  his  brain,  filling  it 
with  the  nebulous  and  confused  elements  of  an 
unborn  world.    What  was  he  to  do? 

Honore  de  Balzac  refused  to  admit  defeat, 
and,  with  a  promptness  of  decision  which  be- 
longs rather  to  men  of  action  than  to  the  con- 
templative type,  he  turned  his  attention  to  busi- 
ness and  commercial  enterprises.  He  had  none 
of  the  prejudices  of  men  of  letters,  who  refuse 
to  recognise  that  there  are  any  employments 
worthy  of  their  faculties  outside  of  literature. 
Little  he  cared  as  to  the  means,  provided  he 
could  lay  the  foundation  of  his  fortunes,  and  as- 
sure his  independence.   Novels  had  not  brought 


HIS  APPRENTICESHIP  69 

him  material  emancipation.  Very  well  then! 
he  would  abandon  them  without  regret.  Never- 
theless, he  would  preserve  the  memory  of  them, 
and  recognise  that  they  had  been  useful  as  a 
literary  exercise.  In  fact,  he  said  to  Champ- 
fleury,  in  1848,  "I  wrote  seven  novels,  simply  as 
a  training.  One  to  break  myself  in  to  dialogue ; 
one  to  learn  how  to  write  description;  one  to 
learn  how  to  group  my  characters;  one  as  a 
study  in  composition,  etc."  Although  Balzac 
never  publicly  acknowledged  these  works  of  his 
youth,  they  had  their  share  in  his  intellectual 
development;  and,  because  of  this  claim,  they 
should  not  be  wholly  set  aside  from  the  rest  of 
his  gigantic  work.  In  any  case,  they  are  by  no 
means  destitute  of  merit. 

Relinquishing  his  career  as  man  of  letters, 
from  which  he  could  not  make  a  living,  Honore 
de  Balzac  flung  himself  into  business  with  the 
same  activity  that  he  had  applied  to  the  produc- 
tion of  novels.  As  early  as  1822,  he  had  enter- 
tained various  business  schemes,  and  he  would 
have  accepted  the  appointment  of  deputy  su- 
pervisor of  the  construction  work  on  the  Saint- 


70  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Martin  canal,  under  his  brother-in-law,  Surville, 
if  he  had  been  able  to  give  the  required  security. 
But  he  had  at  his  command  only  five  hundred 
francs,  which  was  an  inadequate  sum.  The  at- 
traction of  business,  which  was  one  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  his  temperament/enticed  him  into 
the  most  chimerical  adventures,  although  the 
first  business  connection  which  he  formed,  and 
which  was  in  the  nature  of  publishing  and  book- 
selling, resulted  in  giving  him  the  financial  start 
which  he  so  ardently  desired. 


CHAPTER  IV 

IN   BUSINESS 

T  TAVING  started  in  to  be  a  "literary  man- 
*■  of-all-work,"  to  borrow  the  phrase  of  Hip- 
polyte  Auger,  his  collaborator  on  the  Feuille- 
ton  des  Journaux  Politiques,  who  was  closely 
in  touch  with  him  in  those  early  days,  Honore 
de  Balzac  had  formed  relations  with  the  second- 
rate  papers,  the  publishers  of  novels,  the  pro- 
moters of  all  sorts  of  works  that  might  lend 
themselves  to  speculating  purposes  in  the  pub- 
lishing line.  It  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
chance  demands  of  literary  work  that  he  found 
himself  flung  headlong  into  business.  He  had 
reached  the  point  where  he  was  ready  to  accept 
any  proposition  of  a  promising  nature,  in  his 
eagerness  to  become  free,  to  escape  the  strict 
surveillance  of  his  family  and  the  reproaches  of 
his  mother,  and  furthermore  he  was  urged  into 
this  path  by  a  certain  Mme.  de  Berny,  a  woman 
71 


72  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

who  loved  him  and  who  wished  to  see  him  be- 
come a  great  man,  for  she  alone  recognised  his 
genius. 

How  and  when  had  they  become  acquainted? 
Perhaps  at  Paris,  since  the  de  Bernys  dwelt  at 
No.  3  Rue  Portefoin,  and  the  Balzacs  at  No.  17, 
perhaps  later  on  at  Villeparisis,  as  a  result  of 
neighbourly  relations  between  the  two  families. 
However  this  may  be,  Mme.  de  Berny  exerted 
a  profound  and  decisive  influence  upon  Honore 
de  Balzac;  she  was  his  first  love  and,  it  should 
be  added,  the  only  real  one,  if  we  may  judge  by 
the  length  of  time  that  he  cherished  an  un- 
changing memory  of  her. 

Laure  Antoinette  Hinner  was  born  at  Ver- 
sailles on  May  24th,  1777;  she  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  German  harpist  who  had  been  sum- 
moned from  Wetzlar  to  the  Court  of  France, 
and  her  mother  was  Louise  Guelpee  de  Laborde, 
lady-in-waiting  to  Marie-Antoinette.  She  had 
no  less  personages  than  the  king  and  queen  for 
her  god-father  and  god-mother,  and  she  grew 
up  within  sound  of  the  festivities  of  the  Tri- 
anon, in  an  atmosphere  of  frivolity  and  exag- 


IN  BUSINESS  73 

gerated  refinements.  Her  mother,  left  a  widow 
when  the  child  was  barely  ten  years  old,  took  a 
second  husband,  Frangois  Regnier  de  Jar j ayes, 
a  fervent  royalist,  involved  in  all  the  plots 
which  had  for  their  object  the  deliverance  of 
the  royal  family.  After  the  brilliant  days  of 
court  life,  she  lived  through  the  tragic  hours  of 
the  Revolution,  in  the  midst  of  conspirators, 
and  in  an  atmosphere  of  restlessness  and  anx- 
iety. In  1793,  Laure  Hinner,  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen years  and  ten  months,  was  married  at 
Livry  to  Gabriel  de  Berny,  who  was  himself 
only  twenty.  The  union  seems  to  have  re- 
sulted unhappily,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it 
was  blessed  with  nine  children;  the  sensibility 
of  the  wife  and  her  warm-hearted  tenderness 
accorded  ill  with  the  cold  and  reserved  charac- 
ter of  the  husband. 

When  Balzac  entered  into  his  close  friendship 
with  Mme.  de  Berny,  the  latter  was  forty-five 
years  of  age  and  a  grandmother.  In  spite  of 
her  years  and  her  many  children,  she  was  still 
beautiful,  on  the  order  of  tender  and  mature 
beauty.    Balzac  borrowed  certain  traits  from 


74  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

her  for  the  noblest  heroines  in  his  works;  and 
she  served  successively  as  model  for  Mme.  Fir- 
miani,  for  Mme.  de  Mortsauf  in  The  Lily  in  the 
Valley,  and  for  Pauline  in  Louis  Lambert;  and 
he  spoke  constantly  of  her  in  his  correspondence 
with  Mme.  de  Hanska,  yet  always  with  a  sort 
of  reverence  and  passionate  gratitude. 

She  was  a  woman  of  almost  clairvoyant  intel- 
ligence, instinctive  and  unerring,  and  was  en- 
dowed with  rich  qualities  of  heart  and  brain, 
which  she  had  never  had  a  chance  to  use.  She 
treasured  letters  and  souvenirs,  and  she  held  in 
reserve  a  store  of  tenderness  of  a  rather  ma- 
ternal sort.  Balzac,  isolated  in  the  midst  of  his 
own  family,  thrust  back  upon  himself  and  suf- 
fering from  the  need  of  expansion,  surrendered 
himself  utterly  to  this  new  friend,  with  the  im- 
petuosity born  of  happiness  and  freedom.  She 
was  his  confidential  adviser,  his  comforter  and 
his  friend.  She  listened  to  his  dreams,  she 
shared  the  elation  of  his  ambitions,  she 
espoused  his  projects  and  fostered  his  genius; 
and  when  he  was  too  cruelly  wounded  in  the 


IN  BUSINESS  75 

struggle,  she  consoled  him  with  words  of  sooth- 
ing tenderness. 

It  caused  Mme.  de  Berny  actual  suffering  to 
see  her  young  friend  toiling  for  sheer  merce- 
nary ends,  and  squandering  the  precious  years 
of  his  youth  in  writing  novels  that  were  frankly 
hack-work ;  and  it  hurt  her  also  to  see  the  con- 
dition of  financial  servitude  in  which  his  fam- 
ily kept  him.  While  the  father,  Frangois  de 
Balzac,  watched  his  son's  efforts  with  indulgent 
irony,  for  he  held  that  novels  were  to  the  Euro- 
peans what  opium  is  to  the  Chinese,  and  while 
the  mother,  irritated  at  the  rebellion  of  her 
first-born,  maintained  her  attitude  of  hostile 
distrust,  Mme.  de  Berny  alone  had  confidence 
in  his  future,  notwithstanding  that  appearances 
were  all  against  him. 

Mme.  de  Berny  and  Honore  de  Balzac  un- 
doubtedly put  their  heads  together,  to  seek  for 
some  means  of  bettering  a  situation  so  painful 
and  humiliating  for  a  young  man  of  twenty-five. 
Accordingly,  when  chance  seemed  to  offer  them 
a  good  opportunity,  they  hastened  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  it. 


76  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

The  publisher,  Urbain  Canel,  had  conceived 
the  idea  of  bringing  out  the  French  classics  in 
single  compact  octavo  volumes,  to  be  issued  in 
installments.  He  was  to  begin  this  collection 
with  a  Lafontaine,  for  which  he  had  ordered  a 
preface  from  Balzac,  who  had  previously  done 
work  for  him.  We  may  well  believe  that  he  at 
the  same  time  enlarged  upon  his  projects  and 
that  he  aroused  Balzac's  interest  by  dwelling 
upon  the  magnitude,  the  novelty  and  the  large 
remuneration  of  his  enterprise.  It  was  a  ques- 
tion of  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  produc- 
tion of  an  entire  library.  Balzac's  imagination 
awoke  to  the  possibilities  of  this  scheme  which 
seemed  to  him  a  colossal  one,  capable  of  lay- 
ing the  foundations  of  numerous  fortunes.  He 
calculated  what  he  might  make  out  of  it  per- 
sonally, and  decided  that  at  last  destiny  had 
deigned  to  smile  upon  him.  Canel  was  far 
richer  in  hopes  for  the  success  of  his  project 
than  in  money  to  carry  it  out,  and  he  was  ready 
to  accept  all  offers  of  co-operation,  if  not  actu- 
ally to  solicit  them.  When  Mme.  de  Berny  was 
informed  of  the  scheme  by  Balzac,  she  did  not 


IN  BUSINESS  77 

try  to  dissuade  him  from  joining  in  it,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  devoted  and  trusting  friend  that 
she  was,  offered  to  aid  him  by  placing  a  con- 
siderable sum  of  money  at  his  disposal. 

In  April,  1825,  a  partnership  for  the  purpose 
of  publishing  French  classics,  and  more  espe- 
cially a  Lafontaine  in  one  octavo  volume,  to 
be  issued  in  installments,  was  formed  between 
Messrs.  Urbain  Canel,  publisher,  Charles  Car- 
ron,  physician,  Honore  de  Balzac,  man  of  let- 
ters, and  Benet  de  Montcarville,  retired  officer. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  partners  quarrelled, 
and  M.  Hanotaux  has  published  a  letter  *  writ- 
ten by  M.  Carron,  in  which  the  latter  complains 
of  Balzac's  arrogant  tone,  while  at  the  same 
time  apologising  to  him  for  having  called  him 
a  liar.  At  all  events,  when  a  second  partner- 
ship was  formed  later  in  that  same  month  of 
April,  with  a  view  to  the  publishing  of  a  Mo- 
liere,  to  form  part  of  the  same  collection  as 
the  Lajontaine,  the  only  members  left  were 
Canel  and  Balzac,  who  agreed  each  to  put  up 

*La  Jeunesse  de  Balzac:  Balzac  Imprimeur,  1825-1828 
(The  Youth  of  Balzac:  Balzac  as  Printer),  by  G.  Hano- 
taux and  G.  Vicaire,  Paris,  1903. 


78  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

half  the  capital  and  divide  the  profits  and 
losses  equally. 

Balzac  had  taken  his  role  quite  seriously,  and 
the  first  partnership  was  barely  formed  when 
he  set  off  for  Alengon,  in  order  to  make  ar- 
rangements with  a  certain  engraver,  Godart 
fils,  who  had  been  chosen  to  reproduce  the 
drawings  by  Deveria,  with  which  the  collection 
was  to  be  illustrated.  He  was  the  most  active 
of  all  the  partners;  nevertheless,  as  business 
ventures,  the  Lajontaine  and  the  Moliere 
were  very  far  from  profitable.  The  volumes 
were  to  be  issued  in  four  parts  at  five  francs 
each,  making  the  cost  of  the  complete  work  in 
each  case  twenty  francs.  But  when  the  install- 
ments of  the  Lajontaine  were  issued,  during 
the  months  of  April  and  May,  in  an  edition  of 
three  thousand  copies,  they  met  with  no  suc- 
cess. Urbain  Canel  declared  that  he  could  go 
no  further  with  the  venture,  the  partners  with- 
drew, and  Balzac  was  left  alone  to  bear  the 
whole  burden  of  the  enterprise.  His  share  of 
the  capital  had  been  furnished  him  by  a  certain 
M,  d'Assouvillez,  and,  in  order  to  buy  oi;t 


IN  BUSINESS  79 

Canel's  interest,  Mme.  de  Berny  endorsed  notes 
to  the  amount  of  nine  thousand,  two  hundred 
and  five  francs,  between  May  15,  1825,  and 
August  31,  1826.  Altogether,  the  net  result  of 
the  transaction  was  a  loss  to  Balzac  of  fifteen 
thousand  francs.  Being  unable  to  continue  by 
himself  the  publication  of  these  two  works,  he 
sold  the  Lafontaine  to  Baudouin,  who  paid 
for  it  by  transferring  to  Balzac  a  number  of  un- 
collectable  claims.  One  of  these,  amounting  to 
28,840  francs,  was  a  debt  owed  by  a  bookseller 
in  Reims,  named  Fremeau,  who  had  failed  and 
who  cleared  off  this  obligation  by  turning  over 
to  Balzac  an  entire  shopful  of  battered  old 
volumes,  out  of  date  and  worthless. 

Did  this  first  disastrous  experience  turn  him 
aside  from  further  business  ventures?  Not  at 
all.  Balzac  was  by  nature  dogged  and  persever- 
ing. Hope  illuminated  his  calculations;  he 
found  the  best  of  reasons  to  explain  the  failure 
of  an  edition  of  classic  authors;  but  he  con- 
jured up  still  better  ones  for  assailing  new  en- 
terprises. The  edition  of  the  classics  had  not 
been  a,  success, — well,  no  matter!     He  would 


80  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

establish  himself  as  a  printer.  In  the  course  of 
his  peregrinations  among  the  printing-houses 
he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  young  fore- 
man named  Barbier,  in  whose  welfare  he  had 
become  interested  and  whose  special  ability  he 
had  recognised.  He  decided  to  take  him  into 
partnership. 

Balzac's  father,  when  asked  to  help  his  son 
to  establish  himself  in  business,  gave  a  guar- 
antee of  thirty  thousand  francs,  which  repre- 
sented the  invested  capital,  that  had  yielded  the 
interest  of  fifteen  hundred  francs,  the  sum  al- 
lowed him  at  an  earlier  period.  Mme.  de  Berny 
interested  herself  in  the  proposed  venture,  and 
so  did  M.  d'Assouvillez,  the  former  silent  part- 
ner. Balzac  acquired  the  establishment  of 
Laurens  Sr.,  Printer,  No.  17,  Rue  des  Marais- 
Saint-Germain,  now  Rue  Visconti,  at  the  cost 
of  thirty  thousand  francs,  plus  twelve  thousand 
francs  as  an  indemnity  to  Barbier,  because  he 
was  resigning  from  an  assured  position,  and 
fifteen  thousand  francs  for  equipments.  On 
the  12th  of  April,  1826,  he  sent  in  an  applica- 
tion to  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  and,  thanks 


IN  BUSINESS  81 

to  two  letters  of  recommendation  from  M.  de 
Berny,  counsellor  to  the  Royal  Court  of  Paris, 
be  obtained  his  license  on  January  1st,  as  suc- 
cessor to  Jean-Joseph  Laurens,  retired. 

What  was  Balzac's  life  during  the  two  years 
that  he  practised  the  profession  of  printer?  In 
his  contract  of  partnership  with  Barbier  he  had 
reserved  for  himself  the  offices  of  bookkeeper 
and  cashier,  signing  papers  and  soliciting  or- 
ders, while  his  associate  was  to  attend  to  the 
technical  end  of  the  enterprise.  In  order  to 
feed  his  presses  with  work,  Balzac  counted  upon 
his  energy,  his  will  power,  his  spirit  of  initiative 
and  his  tact;  he  mentally  recapitulated  the 
number  of  publishers  with  whom  he  had  had 
relations,  and  who  beyond  a  doubt  would  en- 
trust their  work  to  him.  The  printing  house 
was  located  on  the  ground  floor  of  a  distinctly 
gloomy  building  in  the  Rue  des  Marais,  a 
street  so  narrow  that  two  carriages  found  it 
difficult  to  pass  each  other. 

When  he  had  finished  his  round  of  calls  upon 
clients,  he  watched  the  busy  labour  of  his  work- 
men in  the  fetid  atmosphere  of  the  composing 


82  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

room,  and  he  swelled  with  joy  as  though  he 
himself  were  the  motor  power  of  the  various 
parts  of  a  living  organism.  Nothing  discour- 
aged him,  neither  physical  fatigue  nor  the  men- 
tal strain  of  carrying  on  so  huge  an  enterprise. 
Then,  when  it  seemed  as  though  he  was  on  the 
point  of  bending  beneath  the  burden,  a  secret 
consolation  caused  him  once  again  to  square 
his  shoulders.  On  the  floor  above  the  printing 
house  he  had  fitted  up  a  little  apartment  quite 
luxuriously,  and  there  each  day  he  received 
Mme.  de  Berny,  who  came  to  bring  him  the 
comfort  of  brave  and  tender  words,  which 
seemed  to  him  to  open  the  golden  gates  of  the 
future.  For  Mme.  de  Berny  these  were  the 
hours  in  which  she  could  lay  bare  her  ardent 
and  sensitive  soul,  while  for  Balzac  they  were 
a  whole  education  in  sentiment  and  social  graces 
at  the  hands  of  a  woman  rich  in  sensibility  and 
in  memories.  At  this  period  she  exerted  a  most 
effective  influence  over  the  ideas  of  her  young 
friend;  she  pictured  to  him  the  conditions  of 
fashionable  life  prior  to  the  Revolution,  with 
its  great  ladies,   its  court  intrigues,   and  its 


IN  BUSINESS  83 

mysteries  of  passion  and  ambition;  and  she 
imbued  him  with  monarchical  principles.  But, 
above  all  else,  it  was  she  herself  who  was  the 
life-giving  flame  which  fired  his  genius.  All  of 
Balzac's  life  seems  to  have  been  impregnated 
with  these  first  lessons  received  from  her,  and 
he  could  never  recall  without  emotion  the  aid 
that  he  received  from  Mme.  de  Berny  during 
those  early  years  of  hard  struggles.  In  1837 
he  wrote  as  follows  to  Mme.  Hanska: 

"I  should  be  very  unjust  if  I  did  not  say  that 
from    1823   to    1833   an   angel   sustained   me 

through  that  hideous  battle.    Mme.  de  B , 

although  married,  has  been  like  an  angel  to  me. 
She  has  been  mother,  sweetheart,  family,  friend 
and  counsellor;  she  has  formed  the  writer,  she 
has  consoled  the  man,  she  has  created  my 
taste;  she  has  wept  and  laughed  with  me  like 
a  sister,  she  has  come  day  after  day  and  every 
day  to  lull  my  sorrows,  like  a  beneficent  sleep. 
She  has  done  even  more,  because,  although  her 
finances  are  in  control  of  her  husband,  she  has 
found  means  to  lend  me  no  less  than  forty-five 
thousand  francs,  and  I  paid  back  the  last  six 


84  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

thousand  francs  in  1836,  including  five  per  cent, 
interest,  of  course.  But  it  was  only  gradually 
that  she  came  to  speak  of  my  debt.  Without 
her  I  should  certainly  have  died.  She  often 
became  aware  that  I  had  had  nothing  to  eat 
for  several  days;  and  she  provided  for  all  my 
needs  with  angelic  goodness.  She  encouraged 
me  in  that  pride  which  preserves  a  man  from 
all  baseness,  and  which  today  my  enemies  re- 
proach me  for,  as  being  a  foolish  self-satisfac- 
tion, and  which  Boulanger  has  perhaps  some- 
what exaggerated  in  his  portrait  of  me."  * 

The  illusions  which  Balzac  had  cherished  of 
the  rapid  success  of  his  printing  house  vanished 
very  soon,  and  from  the  outset  he  found  him- 
self facing  the  realities  of  a  difficult  situation. 
In  spite  of  all  his  efforts,  clients  remained  rare, 
and  there  was  no  sort  of  order  either  in  the 
business  organisation  or  in  the  financial  man- 
agement. M.  Gabriel  Vicaire  has  made  an  in- 
vestigation to  determine  how  many  works 
issued  from  Balzac's  presses,  and  he  has  been 

♦The  original  of  this  portrait  of  Honore  de  Balzac  is 
at  the  chateau  of  Wierzchownia ;  there  is  a  copy  of  it 
in  the  Palace  at  Versailles. 


THE  DE  BALZAC  FAMILY 
Above:  Francois  de  Balzac;  Mme.  F.  de  Balzac,  nee  Sallambien 
father  and  mother  of  the  great  novelist.  Below:  Honore  de  Balzac? 
at  the  age  of  25,  an  engraving  by  A.  Lepere,  from  a  painting  attri- 
buted to  Achille  Deveria. — Laure  de  Balzac,  his  sister,  afterwards 
Mme.  Surville. 


IN  BUSINESS  85 

unable  to  count  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty,  or  thereabouts,  which  was  a  small  num- 
ber, during  a  space  of  two  years,  for  an  im- 
portant and  well-equipped  printing  house.  The 
first  order  that  he  filled  was  a  druggist's  pros- 
pectus, Anti-mucous  Pills  of  Longevity,  or 
Seeds  of  Life,  for  Cure,  a  Parisian  druggist, 
of  No.  77,  Rue  Saint- Antoine;  it  was  a  four- 
leaf  8vo  pamphlet,  dated  July  29,  1826.  The 
average  orders  seem  to  have  been  commonplace 
enough ;  nevertheless,  Balzac  did  print  a  num- 
ber of  interesting  books  for  various  publishers; 
among  others,  The  Historical  and  Literary 
Miscellanies  of  M.  Villemain,  for  Ladvocat, 
and  La  Jacquerie,  Feudal  Scenes,  followed 
by  the  Carvajal  Family,  a  drama  by  the 
"author  of  the  dramatic  works  of  Clara  Gazul" 
(Merimee),  for  Brissot-Thivars.  He  was  also 
the  printer  for  two  periodicals,  the  Gymnase, 
for  Carnot  and  Hippolyte  Auger,  the  editors  of 
that  review  of  social  tendencies,  and  the  An- 
nates Romantiques,  for  Urbain  Canel.  The  lat- 
ter was  the  publisher  of  the  younger  literary 
school,  and  brought  out  in  his  magazine  the 


86  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

works  of  Victor  Hugo,  Alfred  de  Vigny,  Ben- 
jamin Constant,  Chateaubriand,  Delavigne, 
etc.  Are  we  to  suppose  that  business  cares  had 
turned  Balzac  aside  from  all  his  literary  proj- 
ects? And  what  must  his  feelings  have  been 
when  he  read  on  pages  still  smelling  of  fresh 
ink  names  already  familiar,  and  some  of  them 
long  since  famous,  while  he  himself  was  still 
only  a  simple  printer?  There  is  reason  for 
thinking  that  his  business  venture,  with  all  its 
cares  and  anxieties,  never  interrupted  the  silent 
but  fabulous  labour  that  was  shaping  itself  in- 
side his  brain,  and  that  when  he  saw  new  au- 
thors becoming  famous  he  merely  said,  "My 
day  will  come."  Meanwhile,  he  yielded  to  an 
influence  absolutely  opposed  to  his  natural  bent, 
and  contributed  to  the  Annales  two  poems  per- 
fectly romantic  in  tone:  an  Ode  to  a  Young 
Girl  and  Verses  Written  in  an  Album. 

But  in  reality  Balzac  never  had  the  gift  of 
versification,  even  in  his  youth;  and  later  on, 
when  he  had  need  of  poems  for  his  Human 
Comedy,  he  applied  to  his  friends,  Theophile 
Gautier,  Mme.  de  Girardin,  or  Lassailly,  mere- 


IN  BUSINESS  87 

ly  indicating  the  general  tone  of  the  verses  he 
wanted  them  to  write. 

In  addition  to  the  above-mentioned  periodi- 
cals, Honore  de  Balzac  printed  the  Album  of 
History  and  Anecdote,  from  January  to  April, 
1827,  and  he  seems  also  to  have  been  its  editor. 
For,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  subscriptions  to  it 
were  received  at  the  printing  house,  No.  17, 
Rue  des  Marais-Saint-Germain,  and  there  are 
anecdotes  to  be  found  in  it  which  he  after- 
wards repeated  in  some  of  his  works. 

In  spite  of  all  his  hopes  and  efforts,  the  busi- 
ness went  from  bad  to  worse,  and  Balzac  en- 
dured all  the  agonies  of  a  merchant  who  sees 
the  dawn  of  the  day  when  a  note  falls  due  and 
knows  that  his  cash  drawer  is  empty.  We  can 
picture  him,  anxiously  studying  his  account 
books,  with  his  elbows  on  his  desk,  and  imagin- 
ing a  thousand  ingenious  means  of  meeting  his 
financial  troubles.  But  the  hard  reality  shat- 
tered them,  one  by  one,  like  thin  glass.  He 
was  a  prey  to  the  money-lenders  and  the  law- 
yers, who  had  no  mercy  upon  a  poor  wretch 
who  had  failed  to  "make  good,"  and  accom- 


88  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

plished  his  ruin  with  mathematical  indiffer- 
ence. The  sheriffs,  the  attorneys,  the  usurers, 
the  intrusive  hordes  of  clerks  and  process- 
servers  swooped  down  upon  the  printing  house 
and  the  printer,  eager  to  share  the  spoils.  Hon- 
ore  de  Balzac,  alone  in  this  "horrible  struggle," 
stood  at  bay  against  the  pack,  using  all  the 
stratagems  that  he  had  learned  in  long  years 
of  conflict  to  throw  them  off  the  track  and 
save  his  last  remaining  resources.  He  put  forth 
all  his  accumulated  cleverness,  his  fertile  spirit 
of  invention,  yet  he  finally  had  to  yield  to 
superior  numbers,  and  witness  the  rapid  and 
steady  disintegration  of  a  business  on  which  he 
had  staked  so  many  hopes. 

But  a  new  opportunity  presented  itself;  his 
imagination  caught  fire,  and  he  foresaw  a  for- 
tune, an  assured  fortune  which  nothing  could 
take  from  him, — and  once  again  he  laughed  his 
deep,  sonorous,  powerful  laugh,  defying  des- 
tiny. In  September,  1827,  a  type  foundry  was 
offered  for  sale,  after  having  failed,  and  Bal- 
zac, in  conjunction  with  Barbier  and  the  as- 
signee Laurent,  bought  it  for  the  sum  of  thirty- 


IN  BUSINESS  89 

six  thousand  francs.  Mme.  de  Berny,  with  her 
inalienable  devotion,  joined  with  him  in  the 
new  venture,  contributing  nine  thousand  francs 
as  her  share.  The  business  of  the  foundry  had 
hitherto  been  limited  to  the  production  of  fonts 
of  type,  but  it  was  the  ambition  of  the  part- 
ners to  extend  its  scope  to  engraving  on  steel, 
copper  and  wood,  and  to  a  special  method  of 
stereotyping  invented  by  Pierre  Duronchail,  to 
which  they  had  acquired  the  rights.  A  cata- 
logue reproducing  the  various  forms  of  type 
which  the  foundry  could  furnish,  as  well  as 
vignettes,  head  and  tail  pieces  and  typographi- 
cal ornaments,  was  widely  circulated,  yet  the 
world  at  large  failed  to  perceive  %the  advan- 
tages offered  by  the  rejuvenated  and  improved 
house  of  Gille  Fils.  After  a  three  months'  trial, 
Barbier  withdrew  from  the  partnership  formed 
for  the  exploitation  of  the  foundry,  and  on 
April  3,  1828,  a  new  association  was  formed 
between  Laurent  and  Balzac,  in  which  Mme.  de 
Berny's  name  also  figured,  but  only  as  a  silent 
partner.  But  every  effort  was  in  vain,  noth- 
ing could  avert  disaster.    On  the  16th  of  April; 


90  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

1828,  the  partnership  of  Laurent  and  Balzac 
was  dissolved,  the  former  remaining  as  assignee. 
Balzac  was  dismayed.  The  menace  of  insol- 
vency closed  the  horizon  of  all  his  hopes.  He 
had  wished  to  triumph  without  the  aid  of  his 
family,  to  demonstrate  that  he  could  carry  on 
a  business  and  achieve  a  fortune.  Yet  now  he 
was  obliged  to  call  his  family  to  his  assistance, 
to  cry  out  for  succour.  The  situation  was  des- 
perate, and  it  was  necessary  to  act  quickly, 
wisely  and  energetically,  for  the  family  honour 
was  at  stake.  Mme.  de  Balzac,  who  until  now 
had  shown  herself  a  suspicious  and  dissatisfied 
mother,  sacrificed  herself  in  the  presence  of  im- 
minent disaster;  she  offered  up  all  her  private 
fortune  to  satisfy  the  creditors.  At  her  re- 
quest, one  of  her  cousins,  M.  Sedillot,  under- 
took the  settlement  of  the  unfortunate  business 
difficulties  of  her  son,  Honore;  and,  being  a 
prudent  and  experienced  business  man,  he  was 
able  to  limit  the  extent  of  the  disaster.  Bar- 
bier  bought  back  the  printing  house  for  sixty- 
seven  thousand  francs,  and  Mme.  de  Berny 
put  her  son,  Alexandre,  in  charge  of  the  foun- 


IN  BUSINESS  91 

dry,  in  place  of  Balzac.  The  liabilities  amount- 
ed to  113,081  francs,  of  which  37,600  had  been 
advanced  by  Mme.  de  Balzac,  while  the  only 
assets  were  the  67,000  francs  resulting  from  the 
sale  of  the  printing  house.  Among  the  debts 
recorded  in  the  settlement  there  are  some  which 
prove  that  at  this  time  Balzac  had  already  ac- 
quired a  taste  for  luxury;  he  owed  Thouvenin, 
book-binder  to  the  Due  d'Orleans,  175  francs 
for  binding  a  Lafontaine,  a  Boileau,  and  a 
Thousand  and  One  Nights,  while  the  long  un- 
settled bill  of  his  shoemaker  amounted  to  no 
less  than  three  hundred  francs! 

The  intervention  of  his  mother  and  the  sac- 
rifices that  she  consented  to  make  saved  him 
from  inevitable  failure,  but  he  had  to  endure 
an  avalanche  of  reproaches.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-nine  he  withdrew  from  business,  with 
debts  amounting  to  ninety  thousand  francs, 
and  how  could  he,  rebellious  son  that  he  was, 
ever  hope  to  clear  himself,  when  he  might  by 
this  time  have  been  a  prosperous  notary,  well 
on  the  road  towards  honours,  if  he  had  only 
listened  to  the  wise  counsel  of  his  parents? 


92  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

His  father,  Frangois  Balzac,  had  learned  of  the 
disaster,  in  spite  of  all  the  precautions  taken 
to  keep  him  in  ignorance,  and  he  addressed  a 
letter,  very  noble  in  tone,  to  M.  Sedillot,  thank- 
ing him  for  having  saved  the  family  name  from 
dishonour.  We  get  an  echo  of  the  recrimina- 
tions which  must  have  arisen  within  the  fam- 
ily circle  from  the  firm  yet  bitter  reply  that 
Balzac  made  to  his  sister  Laure: 

"Your  letter  has  given  me  two  detestable 
days  and  two  detestable  nights.  I  brooded 
over  my  justification,  point  by  point,  like 
Mirabeau's  Memoire  to  his  father,  and  I  was 
already  fired  with  zeal  for  the  task;  but  I  have 
decided  not  to  write  it.  I  cannot  spare  the 
time,  my  dear  sister,  and  besides  I  do  not  feel 
that  I  have  been  at  all  in  the  wrong."  And 
in  the  same  letter  he  said  further,  with  calm 
pride:  "I  must  live,  my  dear  sister,  without 
asking  anything  of  anybody;  I  must  live  in 
order  to  work  and  pay  back  every  one  to  whom 
I  am  in  debt." 

Yes,  he  was  nearly  twenty-nine  years  old, 
his  debts  amounted  to  iiinety  thousand  francs, 


IN  BUSINESS  93 

and  he  was  alone  and  without  resources, — but 
although  it  was  a  heavy  burden  he  did  not  con- 
sider that  it  was  too  heavy  for  his  shoulders. 
He  had  debts,  but  he  meant  to  pay  them,  by 
means  of  his  pen  and  his  genius;  and  so  we  shall 
see  him  undertaking  the  most  formidable  task 
that  ever  human  brain  produced, — and  that 
was  destined  to  cease  only  at  his  death. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE    FIRST    SUCCESS 

A/TISFORTUNE,  far  from  discouraging  Bal- 
zac,  strengthened  all  his  powers  of  resist- 
ance and  exalted  his  will  and  his  energy.  He  had 
a  healthy  and  strongly  optimistic  nature,  upon 
which  chagrins,  reverses  and  sorrows  acted  like 
so  many  stimulants;  he  was  never  so  resolute 
as  after  a  defeat.  M.  Sedillot  had  barely  begun 
the  liquidation  of  his  business  affairs,  the  print- 
ing house  and  foundry,  when  he  gave  himself 
up  passionately  and  exclusively  to  his  literary 
work,  apparently  having  forgotten  all  his 
troubles,  save  the  necessity  of  paying  his  debts. 
He  had  a  habit  of  prompt  decisions  and  quick 
action.  Eager  to  break  at  once  all  the  remain- 
ing fetters  that  bound  him  to  his  assignee,  he 
wrote  to  the  General  Baron  de  Pommereul,  at 
Fougeres: 

"For  the  past  month  I  have  been  busy  over 
94 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  95 

some  historical  researches  of  great  interest,  and 
I  hope  that  in  the  absence  of  talent,  which  in 
my  case  is  altogether  problematic,  our  national 
manners  and  customs  may  perhaps  bring  me 
good  luck.  I  have  realised  that,  no  matter 
how  industrious  I  am,  my  efforts  will  not  bring 
me  in  anything  like  a  living  wage  before  the 
first  of  next  January ;  and  meanwhile  the  purest 
chance  has  brought  to  my  attention  a  historic 
incident  of  1798  relating  to  the  war  of  the 
Chouans  and  Vendeans,  which  gives  me  a  sub- 
ject that  is  very  easy  to  handle.  It  requires 
no  research,  except  in  regard  to  the  localities. 

"My  first  thought  was  of  you,  and  I  decided 
to  ask  you  to  grant  me  an  asylum  for  a  mat- 
ter of  twenty  days.  My  muse,  her  trumpet,  a 
quire  of  paper  and  myself  will  surely  not  be 
greatly  in  your  way."  * 

The  general's  father  had  been  a  friend  of 
Frangois  Balzac,  who  had  rendered  him  some 
financial  service;  accordingly  the  son  hastened 
to  reply  to  Honore  that  his  house  was  open  to 

*  Balzac  in  Brittany,  published  letter  by  R.  du  Ponta- 
vice  de  Heussy. 


96  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

him.  No  sooner  was  the  letter  received  than 
the  latter  set  forth,  such  was  his  haste  to  leave 
Paris,  collect  the  material  for  his  story,  and 
find  the  necessary  tranquillity  for  writing  it. 
He  left  Paris  without  change  of  linen  and  with 
his  toilet  all  in  disorder,  intoxicated  with  his 
sense  of  liberty,  "to  such  an  extent,"  writes 
M.  de  Pontavice,  "that  he  presented  himself 
to  his  provincial  friends  wearing  such  a  piteous 
hat  that  they  found  it  necessary  to  conduct 
him  forthwith  to  the  only  hatter  in  Fougeres. 
That  honourable  tradesman  went  to  infinite 
pains  before  he  succeeded  in  discovering  any 
headwear  large  enough  to  shelter  the  bony 
casket  which  contained  the  Human  Comedy!' 
Honore  de  Balzac  was  exuberant  with  joy. 
He  took  his  hosts  by  storm  through  his  wit  and 
good  humour.  He  questioned  M.  de  Pom- 
mereul  as  to  the  main  facts  about  the  Chou- 
ans;  he  jotted  down  in  his  notebook,  which  he 
afterwards  came  to  call  his  larder,  a  host  of 
original  anecdotes  preserved  by  oral  tradition; 
and  he  roamed  the  whole  countryside,  fixing  in 
his  mind  the  landscapes  and  the  gestures,  at- 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  97 

titudes  and  physiognomies  of  the  peasants,  and 
saturating  himself  with  the  atmosphere  of  the 
region  in  which  he  was  to  place  the  chief  scenes 
of  his  drama. 

Those  were  happy  hours  during  which  Hon- 
ore  de  Balzac  withdrew  to  his  first-floor  room, 
seated  himself  before  a  little  table  placed  close 
to- the  window,  and  wrote  with  feverish  elation 
of  the  heroic  acts  of  the  Blues  and  the  Chouans, 
of  Commander  Hulot,  Marche-a-Terre  and  the 
Abbe  Gudin,  and  wove  the  tangled  threads  of 
the  adventures  of  Fouche's  spy,  Mile,  de  Ver- 
neuil,  who  set  forth  to  save  the  young  stripling 
and  allowed  herself  to  be  caught  in  the  divine 
snare  of  love. 

On  some  evenings  he  remained  in  the  draw- 
ing-room in  company  with  his  hosts,  and  en- 
tered into  controversies  with  Mme.  de  Pom- 
mereul,  who,  being  very  pious  herself,  tried  to 
persuade  him  to  make  a  practice  of  religion; 
while  Balzac,  in  return,  when  the  discussion 
was  exhausted,  endeavoured  to  teach  her  the 
rules  of  backgammon.  But  the  one  remained 
unconverted  and  the  other  never  mastered  the 


98  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

course  of  the  noble  game.  Occasionally  he 
helped  to  pass  the  time  by  inventing  stories, 
which  he  told  with  all  the  vividness  of  which 
he  was  master. 

The  days  slipped  away,  as  fruitful  as  they 
were  happy;  but  Balzac's  family  became 
troubled  over  his  prolonged  absence.  They 
feared  that  he  was  wasting  his  time  amid  the 
pleasures  of  the  country,  after  all  the  sacrifices 
they  had  made  for  him,  and  when  he  ought  to 
be  hard  at  work,  clearing  off  his  debts.  They 
summoned  him  home,  and  he  left  Fougeres  at 
the  end  of  October,  regretting  the  interruption 
to  his  task.  But  he  had  no  sooner  arrived  in 
Paris  than  he  set  to  work  again,  and  he  did 
not  fail  to  keep  his  provincial  friends  informed 
of  the  progress  of  his  novel.  The  first  thing 
he  did  was  to  change  its  title  from  The 
Stripling,  to  which  Mme.  de  Pommereul  had 
objected,  to  The  Chouans  or  Brittany  Thirty 
Years  Ago,  and  finally  settled  definitely  on 
The  Last  Chouan  or  Brittany  in  1800.  This 
work,  the  first  that  he  signed  with  his  own 
name,  was  finished  in  the  beginning  of  1829, 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  99 

and  was  published  by  Urbain  Canel.  On  the 
eleventh  of  March  he  announced  to  the  Baron 
de  Pommereul  that  he  was  sending  him  a  set. 

"Between  four  and  six  days  from  now,"  he 
wrote,  "you  will  receive  the  four  12mo  vol- 
umes of  The  Last  Chouan  or  Brittany  in  1800. 

"Did  I  call  it  my  work?  ...  It  is  partly 
yours  also,  for  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  built  up 
from  the  precious  anecdotes  which  you  so  ably 
and  so  generously  related  to  me  between 
glasses  of  that  pleasant  and  mild  vin  de  Grave 
and  those  crisp  buttered  biscuits." 

The  Last  Chouan  proved  a  success.  It 
was  criticised  and  its  merit  was  admitted. 
L'Universel  shows  the  tone  of  most  of  the 
articles  devoted  to  it:  "After  all,  the  work  is  not 
without  interest;  if  reduced  to  half  its  length, 
it  would  be  amusing  from  one  end  to  the  other. 
In  general,  the  style  is  pretentious  in  almost  all 
of  the  descriptive  parts,  but  the  dialogue  is  not 
lacking  in  naturalness  and  frankness." 

In  1829,  after  the  publication  of  The  Last 
Chouan,  Honore  de  Balzac  plunged  boldly,  un- 
der his  own  name,  into  the  turmoil  of  liter- 


100  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ature.  He  pushed  ahead  audaciously,  elbow- 
ing his  way,  and  he  made  himself  enemies. 
He  went  his  owii  road,  indifferent  to  sarcasms, 
mockeries,  and  spiteful  comments  called  forth 
by  his  tranquil  assurance  and  certainty  of  his 
own  strength,  which  he  did  not  try  to  hide. 
At  a  period  when  it  was  the  fashion  to  sigh 
and  be  pale  and  melancholy,  in  a  stage-setting 
of  lakes,  clouds  and  cathedrals,  and  when  one 
was  expected  to  be  abnormal  and  mediaeval, 
Balzac  displayed  a  robust  joviality,  he  was 
proud  of  his  stalwart  build  and  ruddy  com- 
plexion, and,  far  from  looking  to  the  past  for 
literary  material,  his  observing  and  clairvoyant 
eyes  eagerly  seized  the  men  of  his  own  time 
and  transformed  them  into  heroes. 

All  day  long  he  went  the  rounds  of  publish- 
ers and  editors,  of  papers  and  reviews,  and 
sought  connections  with  other  writers  of  repute. 
Returning  in  the  evening  to  his  study,  he  would 
write  throughout  the  entire  night,  until  long 
after  the  dawn  had  come,  with  feverish  regu- 
larity and  energy  and  without  fatigue,  ready 
to  begin  again  the  next  day.    When  he  gave 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  101 

up  his  printing  house  he  y/ent  to  live  at  No.  1, 
Rue  Cassini,  in  a  quarter  which  at  that  time 
was  almost  deserted,  between  the  Observatory 
and  the  Maternity  Hospital.  He  brought  his 
furniture  with  him  and  fitted  up  his  rooms  in 
accordance  with  his  own  tastes  and  resources. 
This  had  called  forth  some  bitter  comments 
from  his  parents:  What  right  had  he  to  com- 
fort and  to  something  approaching  luxury  be- 
fore he  had  cleared  off  his  debts?  "I  am  re- 
proached for  the  furnishings  of  my  rooms/'  he 
wrote  to  his  sister  Laure,  "but  all  the  furniture 
belonged  to  me  before  the  catastrophe  came! 
I  have  not  bought  a  single  new  piece!  The 
wall  covering  of  blue  percale  which  has  caused 
such  an  outcry  was  in  my  chamber  at  the 
printing  house.  Letouche  and  I  tacked  it  with 
our  own  hands  over  a  frightful  wall-paper, 
which  would  otherwise  have  had  to  be  changed. 
My  books  are  my  tools  and  I  cannot  sell  them. 
My  sense  of  good  taste,  which  enables  me  to 
make  all  my  surroundings  harmonious,  is  some- 
thing which  cannot  be  bought  (unfortunately 
for  the  rich) ;  yet,  after  all,  I  care  so  little  for 


102  HONOaE  DE  BALZAC 

any  cf  these  things  that,  if  one  of  my  creditors 
wants  to  have  me  secretly  imprisoned  at  Sainte- 
Pelagie,  I  shall  be  far  happier  there;  for  my 
living  will  cost  me  nothing  and  I  shall  be  no 
closer  prisoner  than  my  work  now  keeps  me  in 
my  own  home." 

In  spite  of  this  apparent  and  wholly  circum- 
stantial disinterestedness,  Balzac  loved  artistic 
surroundings,  rugs,  tapestries  and  silver  ware. 
He  detested  mediocrity,  and  could  enjoy  noth- 
ing short  either  of  glorious  poverty,  nobly  en- 
dured in  a  garret,  or  wealth  and  the  splendour 
of  a  palace.  Balzac  shared  his  apartment  with 
Auguste  Borget,  a  painter  and  traveller,  who 
was  one  of  his  most  faithful  friends.  From  a 
window  in  their  parlour  they  could  look  across 
some  gardens  and  see  the  dome  of  the  Invalides. 
Ever  since  his  childhood  Balzac  had  made  a 
sort  of  worship  of  Napoleon.  He  was  his  model, 
and  his  great  ambition  was  to  equal  Napoleon's 
exploits  in  the  realm  of  the  intellect.  Mme. 
Ancelot  relates  in  The  Salons  of  Paris  that 
Balzac  had  erected  a  sort  of  altar,  surmounted 
by  Napoleon's  bust,  on  which  he  had  inscribed : 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  103 

"What  he  began  with  the  sword  I  shall  achieve 
with  the  pen."  This  anecdote  is  confirmed  by 
Philarete  Chasle,  who  saw  the  statue  in  the 
Rue  Cassini  apartment,  a  plaster  statue  repre- 
senting the  emperor  clad  in  his  redingote  and 
holding  his  celebrated  lorgnette  in  his  hand. 

Napoleon's  influence  upon  Balzac  was  pro- 
found, or  rather  there  was  a  sort  of  parallelism 
between  their  two  ambitions,  each  of  a  differ- 
ent order,  but  equally  formidable.  Balzac  was 
essentially  a  conqueror  and  legislator.  But  he 
wished  to  establish  his  empire  in  the  intellec- 
tual domain,  for  he  believed  that  the  time  for 
territorial  conquest  was  past;  yet  he  wished  to 
prescribe  laws  for  the  people  and  govern  them 
himself.  He  was  a  born  ruler,  whether  he 
turned  to  literature  or  politics,  and  he  appoint- 
ed himself  "Marshal  of  Letters,"  just  as  he 
might  have  aspired  to  be  prime  minister  to 
the  king. 

After  the  publication  of  The  Last  Chouan, 
Balzac's  literary  activity  became  prodigious. 
Shutting  himself  into  his  workroom  and  seated 
before  a  little  table  covered  with  green  cloth, 


104  •  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

under  the  light  of  a  four-branched  candlestick, 
dressed  in  his  monkish  frock,  a  white  robe  in 
which  he  felt  at  ease,  with  the  cord  tied  slackly 
around  his  waist  and  his  shirt  unbuttoned  at 
the  collar,  he  turned  out,  in  a  dizzy  orgy  of 
production,  The  Physiology  of  Marriage,  the 
short  stories  constituting  the  Scenes  of  Private 
Life,  At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat-and-Racket, 
The  Ball  at  Sceaux,  The  Vendetta,  A  Double 
Family,  Peace  in  the  Household,  Gobseck  and 
Sarrasine,  besides  studies,  criticisms  and  essays 
for  newspapers  and  magazines. 

The  Physiology  of  Marriage  appeared  at 
the  end  of  December,  1829,  and  caused  quite  a 
little  scandal.  The  public  did  not  understand 
Balzac's  ideas,  they  recoiled  from  the  boldness 
of  his  themes,  which  sounded  like  sheer  cyni- 
cism, and  remembered  only  the  crudity  of  cer- 
tain anecdotes,  without  trying  to  penetrate 
their  philosophy.  He  was  attacked  in  the  pub- 
lic press,  and  even  his  friends  did  not  spare 
him  their  reproaches.  Balzac  defended  himself 
against  the  criticisms  of  Mme.  Zulma  Carraud, 
whom  he  had  met  at  Versailles  at  the  home  of 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  105 

his  sister  Laure,  and  whose  esteem  and  affec- 
tion he  was  anxious  to  keep.  Mme.  Carraud 
was  a  broad-minded  and  discerning  woman,  of 
delicate  sensibility  and  an  upright  nature.  Her 
husband  was  Commander  Carraud,  director  of 
studies  at  the  Military  School  of  Saint-Cyr, 
and  later  inspector  of  the  powder  works  at  An- 
gouleme.  Balzac  loved  her  as  a  confidential 
friend, — who,  at  the  same  time,  did  not  spare 
him  the  truth, — and  he  made  frequent  visits 
to  the  towns  where  she  lived,  especially  to 
Issoudun,  at  her  chateau  of  Frapesle,  after  the 
Commander  had  gone  .into  retirement. 

The  Physiology  might  seem  to  have  been 
an  abnormal  work  for  a  man  of  Balzac's  years 
if  it  was  not  known  that  he  had  two  collaborat- 
ors, Mme.  de  Berny,  who  brought  him  her  ex- 
perience as  a  woman  of  the  world,  and  his 
father,  who  gave  him  the  greater  part  of  his 
maxims. 

Frangois  Balzac  believed  that  he  was  or- 
dained to  live  for  more  than  a  hundred  years, 
and  perhaps  he  would  have  attained  that  age 
if  he  had  not  succumbed  to  the  after-effects  of 


106  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

an  operation  on  the  liver,  June  19,  1829.  Hon- 
ore  felt  this  loss  keenly,  for,  although  his  father 
often  showed  himself  sceptical  as  to  the  value 
of  his  son's  literary  efforts,  too  little  attention 
has  been  paid  to  the  share  that  he  had  in  the 
origin  of  that  son's  ideas. 

The  Physiology  had  only  just  appeared 
when  Balzac  published  the  Scenes  of  Private 
Life,  on  March  10,  1836 ;  and,  without  slacken- 
ing speed,  he  contributed  to  a  number  of  differ- 
ent journals.  Emile  de  Girardin  had  welcomed 
him  to  the  columns  of  La  Mode,  which  he 
had  founded  in  1829,  under  the  patronage  of  the 
Duchesse  de  Berry,  and  he- contributed  sketches 
to  it  regularly:  El  Verdugo,  The  Usurer,  a 
Study  of  a  Woman  (signed  "By  the  author  of 
the  Physiology  of  Marriage"),  Farewell,  The 
Latest  Fashion  in  Words,  A  New  Theory  of 
Breakfasting,  The  Crossing  of  the  Beresina, 
and  Chateau  Life,  an  essay  against  the  publi- 
cation of  which  Balzac  protested  because  his 
sensitive  literary  conscience  was  unwilling  that 
it  should  be  printed  until  developed  into  some- 
thing more  than  a  crude  sketch, — and  lastly 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  107 

came  the  Treatise  on  Fashionable  Life,  a  man- 
ual which,  under  the  form  of  pleasantry,  was 
saturated  with  philosophy  and  lofty  social  doc- 
trines. 

At  the  same  period,  from  1829  to  1830,  he 
collaborated  with  Victor  Ratier  on  the  Sil- 
houette, under  his  own  name  and  various 
pseudonyms.  For  this  periodical  he  wrote 
phantasies  of  a  festive  tone  and  somewhat  broad 
humour:  Some  Artists  (signed,  "An  Old  Ar- 
tist"), The  Studio,  The  Grocer,  The  Charlatan, 
Aquatic  Customs,  Physiology  of  the  Toilet, 
The  Cravat  considered  by  itself  and  in  its  Re- 
lations  to  Society  and  the  Individual,  Physiol- 
ogy of  the  Toilet  and  Padded  Coats,  Gastro- 
nomic Physiology,  etc.  In  Le  Yo\eur,  edited  by 
Maurice  Alhoy,  he  published  La  Grisette  Par- 
venue,  A  Working  GirVs  Sunday,  and  Letters 
on  Paris,  a  series  of  articles,  incisive  and  far- 
sighted,  dealing  with  French  politics.  Finally, 
still  in  1830,  he  was  almost  one  of  the  accred- 
ited editors  of  La  Caricature,  for  which  he 
wrote  fantasies  against  the  government, 
sketches  of  Parisian  manners,  and  pictures  of 


108  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  life  of  the  capital,  some  of  which  were  des- 
tined later  to  find  their  way  into  The  Magic 
Skin;  namely,  Le  Comae  de  Carlsruhe,  Con- 
cerning Indifference  in  Politics,  A  Minister's 
Council,  The  Veneerer,  A  Passion  in  College, 
Physiology  of  the  Passions,  etc. 

But,  not  satisfied  with  this  fecundity, — which 
would  have  exhausted  many  another  man  of 
letters, — Honore  de  Balzac,  in  1830,  founded  a 
critical  organ,  in  company  with  Emile  de 
Girardin,  H.  Auger,  and  Victor  Varaigne,  un- 
der the  title  of  Feuilleton  des  Journaux  Poli- 
tiques. 

And  there  were  thousands  of  pages  which 
Balzac  carelessly  let  fall  from  his  fertile  pen, 
and  which  he  valued  so  slightly  that  he  never 
afterwards  gathered  them  together  for  his  col- 
lected works.  On  the  other  hand,  they  did  not 
seem  to  interfere  with  the  composition  of  his 
more  important  writings,  and  at  the  very  time 
that  he  seemed  to  be  scattering  his  efforts  in 
twenty  different  papers  he  was  writing  The 
Woman  of  Thirty,  under  the  guidance  of 
Mme.  de  Berny,  and  working  on  his  extraor- 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  109 

dinary  Magic  Skin,  a  dramatic  study  with  a 
colouring  of  social  philosophy,  which  he  was 
greatly  distressed  to  hear  defined  as  a  novel. 
He  was  possessed  with  a  sort  of  fever  of  cre- 
ation, he  had  already  visualised  nearly  all  the 
characters  in  his  Human  Comedy,  and,  in 
spite  of  his  driving  labours  and  his  marvellous 
facility  at  writing,  he  could  not  keep  pace  with 
his  own  imagination.  Meanwhile,  in  order  to 
keep  himself  awake  and  excite  his  productive 
forces,  he  indulged,  at  this  period,  in  a  veritable 
orgy  of  coffee,  cup  after  cup,  an  orgy  which 
was  destined,  after  twenty  years'  continuance, 
to  have  a  disastrous  effect  upon  his  health. 

Balzac  took  the  most  minute  precautions  in 
making  this  coffee;  he  not  only  selected  sev- 
eral kinds  from  different  localities,  in  order  to 
obtain  a  special  aroma,  but  he  had  his  own 
special  method  of  brewing  it,  which  developed 
all  the  virtues  of  the  blend.  In  his  Treatise 
on  Modern  Stimulants  he  has  told  us  how 
he  prepared  the  coffee  and  what  its  effects  were 
upon  his  temperament.  "At  last  I  have  dis- 
covered   a   horrible    and    cruel   method,"    he 


110  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

writes,  "which  I  recommend  only  to  men  of 
excessive  vigour,  with  coarse  black  hair,  a  skin 
of  mingled  ochre  and  vermilion,  squarish  hands, 
and  legs  like  the  balustrades  in  the  Place 
Louis  XV.  It  consists  in  the  employment  of  a 
decoction  of  ground  coffee  taken  cold  and  an- 
hydride (a  chemical  term  which  signifies  'little 
or  no  water')  and  on  an  empty  stomach.  This 
coffee  falls  into  your  stomach,  which,  as  you 
have  learned  from  Brillat-Savarin,  is  a  sack 
with  a  velvety  interior,  lined  with  little  pores 
and  papillae;  it  finds  nothing  else,  so  it  attacks 
this  delicate  and  voluptuous  lining;  it  becomes 
a  sort  of  food  which  demands  its  digestive 
juices;  so  it  wrings  them  forth,  it  demands 
them  as  a  pythoness  calls  upon  her  god,  it 
maltreats  those  delicate  walls  as  a  truckman 
maltreats  a  pair  of  young  horses;  the  plexus 
nerves  inflame,  they  burn  and  send  their  flashes 
to  the  brain.  Thereupon  everything  leaps  into 
action;  thoughts  and  ideas  rush  pell-mell  over 
one  another,  like  iDattalions  of  the  grand  army 
on  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  battle  takes  place. 
Recollections  arrive  in  a  headlong  charge,  with 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  111 

banners  flying;  the  light  cavalry  of  compari- 
sons advances  in  a  magnificent  gallop;  the  ar- 
tillery of  logic  hurries  up  with  its  gun-carriages 
and  ammunition;  flashes  of  wit  arrive  like  so 
many  sharp-shooters;  the  action  develops;  the 
paper  slowly  covers  over  with  ink,  for  the 
night's  work  has  begun,  and  it  will  end  in  tor- 
rents of  black  water,  like  the  battle  in  torrents 
of  black  powder." 

In  spite  of  the  alarming  benefits  which  Bal- 
zac attributes  to  this  regime,  one  is  amazed  at 
the  abundance  of  his  productions,  for,  even 
though  he  sacrificed  a  large  part  of  his  days 
and  nights,  he  none  the  less  frequented  cer- 
tain famous  salons,  was  often  absent  on  vaca- 
tions at  M.  de  Margonne's  home%  at  Sache ;  at 
La  Grenadiere,  where  he  rented  a  house;  and 
at  Nemours.  Besides,  he  had  to  spare  some 
time  to  his  friends,  his  publishers,  and  to  the 
adjustment  of  his  already  complicated  finances. 

With  his  remarkably  keen  sense  of  realities, 
he  knew  that  it  did  not  suffice  merely  to  pro- 
duce a  work  in  order  to  have  it  become  known 
and  sell;  and,  while  it  was  repugnant  to  him  to 


112  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

solicit  an  article  from  a  fellow  craftsman,  he 
excelled  in  the  art  of  exciting  curiosity,  and  ac- 
quiring partisans  and  women  admirers  who, 
upon  the  publication  of  each  new  volume, 
would  loudly  proclaim  it  as  a  masterpiece.  He 
was  on  intimate  terms  with  the  Duchesse 
d'Abrantes  and  Mme.  Sophie  Gay;  he  was  re- 
ceived by  the  Baron  Gerard  and  by  Mme. 
Ancelot;  he  announced  to  his  publisher, 
Charles  Gosselin,  that  Mme.  Recamier  had 
asked  him  to  give  a  reading  from  his  Magic 
Skin,  "so  that  we  are  going  to  have  a  whole  lot 
of  people  to  boom  us  in  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Germain."  And  he  did  not  content  himself 
with  all  these  benevolent  "boomers,"  for,  ac- 
cording to  Philibert  Audebrand,  he  himself 
wrote  a  very  flattering  article  on  his  own  work 
in  La  Caricature,  over  one  of  his  three  pseudo- 
nyms. 

The  book-collector  Jacob  sketched  a  verbal 
portrait  of  Balzac  in  1831,  a  little  heavy  and 
over-emphasised,  yet  fairly  like  him:  "He  was 
about  thirty-two  years  old,  and  seemed  younger 
than  his  age.     He  had  not  yet  taken  on  too 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  113 

much  flesh,  yet  he  was  far  from  being  slender, 
as  he  still  was  five  or  six  years  earlier.  He  did 
not  yet  wear  his  hair  long,  nor  had  he  a  mous- 
tache. His  open  countenance  revealed  a  char- 
acter ordinarily  kindly  and  jovial;  his  high 
colour,  red  lips  and  brilliant  eyes  were  often 
likely  to  give  the  impression  that  he  had  just 
come  from  the  dinner  table,  where  he  had  not 
wasted  his  time."  In  order  to  give  a  greater 
degree  of  truth  and  life  to  this  sketch,  it  should 
be  added  that  Balzac  had  extremely  mobile 
features,  that  he  was  very  sensitive,  and  that, 
if  anything  was  said  that  gave  him  offence,  his 
expression  became  indifferent,  non-committal 
or  haughty.  He  suffered  when  he  was  con- 
gratulated on  his  short  stories  and  tales,  for 
with  justifiable  pride  he  wished  'to  be  appre- 
ciated as  a  poet,  a  philosopher  and  a  thinker. 
It  has  not  been  sufficiently  recognised  how  well 
he  understood  the  essence  of  his  own  genius; 
for,  aside  from  the  short  recitals  in  the  Scenes 
of  Private  Life,  his  early  works  are  philosophic 
works,  The  Magic  Skin,  Louis  Lambert,  and 
The  Country  Doctor,  ranging  all  the  way  from 


114  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  most  lofty  speculations  regarding  human 
intelligence  to  the  details  of  the  social,  material 
and  moral  organisation  of  a  village. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  although  Balzac 
had  already  acquired  a  massive  aspect,  he  did 
not  have  that  vulgar  outline  which  Jacob,  the 
book-fancier,  suggests.  And  when  he  was  speak- 
ing enthusiastically  in  a  drawing-room  his  face 
irradiated,  one  might  almost  say,  a  sort  of  spir- 
ituality, his  eyes  glowed  with  a  splendid  fire, 
and  his  lips  parted  in  a  laugh  of  such  potent 
joyousness  that  he  communicated  the  contagion 
of  it  to  his  hearers.  He  spoke  in  a  pleasant, 
well-modulated  voice,  with  fluctuations  in  tone 
that  accorded  nicely  with  the  circumstances  of 
the  recital;  and  his  gestures  and  power  of  mim- 
icry seemed  to  conjure  up  the  characters  whose 
adventures  he  narrated.  He  was  so  successful 
that  he  gave  up  telling  stories  in  public,  for 
fear  of  acquiring  the  reputation  of  an  enter- 
tainer, which  might  have  robbed  him  of  the 
high  consideration  which  he  exacted  both  for 
himself  and  for  his  writings. 

In  the  full  heat  of  his  literary  work  Balzac 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  115 

did  not  forget  his  political  ambitions;  and, 
since  the  Revolution  of  July,  1830,  had  made 
him  eligible,  he  was  anxious  to  present  him- 
self in  1832  at  one  of  the  electoral  colleges,  as 
a  candidate  for  the  supplementary  elections. 
In  April  he  wrote  a  pamphlet,  Inquest  into 
the  politics  of  two  Ministries,  which  he  signed, 
"M.  de  Balzac,  eligible  elector,"  and  in  which 
he  set  forth  his  criticisms  of  the  government 
and  his  own  principles.  As  soon  as  it  was 
printed  he  sent  off  forty  copies  to  General  de 
Pommereul,  for  the  purpose  of  distribution 
among  his  friends  in  Fougeres;  and  he  wrote 
him: 

"I  shall  write  successively  four  or  five  more, 
in  order  to  prove  to  the  electors  who  nominate 
me  that  I  can  do  them  honour,  and  that  I  shall 
try  to  be  useful  to  the  country. 

"As  for  parliamentary  incorruptibility,  my 
ambition  is  to  see  my  principles  triumphantly 
carried  out  by  an  administration,  and  great 
ambitions  are  never  for  sale."  Whether  Baron 
de  Pommereul  forewarned  him  of  failure  at  the 


116  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

hands  of  his  fellow  citizens,  or  whether  Balzac 
wished  to  have  two  strings  to  his  bow  instead 
of  one,  no  one  knows,  but  at  all  events  in  June 
he  asked  Henry  Berthoud,  director  of  the 
Gazette  de  Cambrai,  to  back  him  as  candidate 
in  his  district.  In  return,  Balzac  promised  to 
try  to  get  some  articles  by  Berthoud  accepted 
by  Rabon  for  the  Revue  de  Paris.  "The  com- 
ing Assembly,"  he  prophesied,  "is  likely  to  be 
a  stormy  one ;  it  is  ripe  for  a  revolution.  It  is 
possible  that  the  people  of  your  district  would 
prefer  to  see  a  Parisian  representing  their  in- 
terests rather  than  any  of  their  own  men;  a 
town  always  loves  to  see  itself  represented  by 
an  orator;  and,  if  I  seek  election  to  the  As- 
sembly, it  is  with  the  idea  of  playing  a  leading 
part  in  politics  and  of  giving  the  benefit  to  the 
community  which  supported  me  and  from 
which  I  have  received  the  political  baptism  of 
election.  All  my  friends  in  Paris,  either  rightly 
or  wrongly,  base  some  hope  upon  me.  I  shall 
have  as  my  credentials:  Yourself,  if  that  is 
agreeable  to  you;   the  Revue   de  Paris,  the 


THE  FIRST  SUCCESS  117 

Temps,  the  Debats,  the  Voleur,  one  other  minor 
journal,  and  my  own  actions  from  now  on." 

But,  in  spite  of  all  his  projects,  Balzac  was 
destined  never  to  be  a  candidate  from  any  dis- 
trict,— and  so  much  the  better  for  the  advance- 
ment of  French  thought. 


CHAPTER  VI 

DANDYISM 

A  FTER  the  publication  of  the  Physiology 
■**-  and  The  Magic  Skin,  which  followed 
The  Chouans  and  Scenes  from  Private  Life, 
Balzac  found  himself  enrolled  among  the 
fashionable  novelists.  The  public  did  not  un- 
derstand his  ideas,  they  were  incapable  of  grasp- 
ing the  grandeur  of  the  vast  edifice  which  he 
already  dreamed  of  raising  to  his  own  glory, 
but  they  enjoyed  his  penetrating  analysis  of 
the  human  heart,  his  understanding  of  women, 
and  his  picturesque,  alluring  and  dramatic 
power  of  narrative.  He  excited  the  curiosity 
of  his  women  readers,  who  recognised  them- 
selves in  his  heroines  as  in  so  many  faithful 
mirrors;  and  the  consequence  was  that  he  was 
besieged  by  a  host  of  feminine  letters.  Bal- 
zac had  a  perfumed  casket  in  which  he  put 
away  the  confidences,  avowals  and  advances  of 

118 


DANDYISM  119 

his  fair  admirers,  but  he  did  not  reply  to  them. 
In  September,  1831,  however,  an  unsigned 
letter  arrived  at  the  chateau  at  Sache,  where 
he  had  been  spending  his  vacation;  but,  as  he 
had  already  left,  it  was  forwarded  to  him  in 
Paris.  It  was  distinguished  by  its  refinement 
of  tone,  its  cleverness  and  its  frank  and  dis- 
cerning criticisms  of  the  Physiology  and  The 
Magic  Skin, — so  much  so,  indeed,  that  Balzac 
decided  to  answer  its  attacks  upon  him  by  de- 
fending his  works  and  explaining  his  ideas. 
There  followed  a  second  letter  and  then  others, 
and  before  long  a  correspondence  had  been 
established  between  Balzac  and  the  unknown 
lady,  so  fascinating  on  her  side  of  it  that  Bal- 
zac was  eager  to  know  her  name,  and  demanded 
it,  under  penalty  of  breaking  off  the  whole 
correspondence.  She  willingly  revealed  her 
identity,  she  was  the  Duchesse  de  Castries.  She 
informed  him  further  that  it  would  give  her 
pleasure  to  have  him  call  upon  her,  in  the 
Rue  de  Varennes,  on  the  day  when  she  received 
her  intimate  friends.  Balzac,  no  doubt,  gave 
utterance    to    his    great,    joyous,    triumphant 


120  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

laugh,  in  which  there  was  also  mingled  a  touch 
of  pride. 

Mme.  de  Castries  was  one  of  the  most  highly- 
courted  ladies  in  the  exclusive  circle  of  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Germain,  an  aristocrat  of  aris- 
tocrats; she  was  still  young, — her  age  was 
thirty-five, — and  beautiful,  with  pale  and  deli- 
cate features,  crowned  with  masses  of  hair  of 
a  dazzling  Venetian  blonde.  She  was  a  de- 
scendant of  the  De  Maille  family,  her  husband 
had  been  a  peer  of  France  under  Charles  X, 
and  through  marriage  the  Due  de  Fitz-James, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  legitimist  party,  was 
her  brother-in-law,  thus  connecting  her  with 
the  highest  nobility  of  France.  To  Balzac  she 
represented  the  doorway  to  a  world  of  which 
he  had  had  only  vague  glimpses  as  reflected  in 
the  reminiscences  of  Mme.  de  Berny, — and  she 
smiled  upon  him  with  a  mysterious  smile  of 
welcome. 

The  novelist  hastened  to  accept  the  Duchess's 
invitation,  and  became  one  of  the  regular  fre- 
quenters of  her  salon.  She  led  him  on ;  and  he 
talked  of  his  ideas,  his  projects  and  his  dreams. 


DANDYISM  121 

He  also  talked  discreetly  of  his  heart,  and,  with- 
out encouraging  him,  she  allowed  him  to  under- 
stand that  she  listened  to  him  without  dis- 
pleasure. His  relations  with  Mme.  de  Berny 
had  been  tinged  with  a  sort  of  bitterness,  due 
to  the  disparity  in  their  ages,  and  his  happi- 
ness had  never  been  complete.  These  relations 
were  now  about  to  come  to  a  close,  yet  even 
after  the  rupture  they  were  destined  to  remain 
like  a  single  soul,  united  by  a  profound  and 
lasting  affection,  beyond  the  reach  of  any  sev- 
erance. Be  that  as  it  may,  Balzac  at  this  period 
was  audaciously  planning  another  conquest, 
and  a  dazzling  one,  more  brilliant  than  his  most 
ambitious  hopes  could  have  wished.  So  the 
pretty  game  continued,  half  in  sport  and  half 
in  earnest. 

Whether  it  was  due  solely  to  the  influence  of 
the  duchess  or  whether  a  certain  amount  of 
calculation  entered  in,  since  literary  success  is 
judged  by  the  money  profits  and  the  expen- 
ditures and  fashionable  appearance  of  the 
writer,  or  whether  he  also  obeyed  his  own  fond- 
ness for  a  broad  and  sumptuous  scale  of  living, 


122  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

no  one  knows;  probably  something  of  all  three 
entered  in;  but  the  fact  remains  that  after  he 
knew  Mme.  de  Castries  Balzac  became  trans- 
formed into  a  dandy,  a  man  of  fashion.  He 
was  a  lion  in  that  circle  of  gilded  youth  which 
frequented  the  Opera  and  the  Bouffes,  that 
shone  in  famous  salons,  that  diverted  itself  in 
cabarets,  and  distinguished  itself  by  wealth, 
gallantry  and  impertinence. 

Balzac  now  had  money.  He  possessed  an 
unusual  faculty  for  disposing  of  his  copy  ad- 
vantageously. To  begin  with,  he  was  paid  by 
the  magazines  to  which  he  gave  the  first  serial 
rights,  the  Revue  de  Paris  and  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes;  and,  secondly,  in  disposing  of 
the  book  rights  he  never  gave  his  publishers 
more  than  the  right  to  bring  out  one  edition 
and  for  a  limited  time;  and  the  result  was  that 
frequent  new  editions,  either  of  single  works 
or  groups  of  works,  taken  together  with  his 
new  works,  formed  altogether  a  considerable 
production  of  volumes.  Furthermore,  he  re- 
ceived advances  from  publishers  and  editors, 
he  trafficked  in  endorsed  notes;  he  borrowed 


DANDYISM  123 

and  lived  on  credit.  This  was  in  a  measure  the 
prosperity  that  he  had  so  greatly  coveted,  yet 
he  gained  it  at  the  cost  of  countless  toil,  ac- 
tivity and  worriment. 

Balzac  now  acquired  carriages  and  horses, 
he  had  a  cabriolet  and  a  tilbury  painted  ma- 
roon; his  coachman  was  enormous  and  was 
named  Leclercq,  while  the  groom  was  a  dwarf 
whom  he  called  Anchises.  He  engaged  ser- 
vants, a  cook  and  a  valet  named  Paradis.  He 
patronised  the  most  fashionable  tailor  of  the 
time,  and  dressed  in  accordance  with  the  de- 
crees of  the  latest  style.  Mme.  Ancelot  states 
that  he  ordered  no  less  than  thirty-one  waist- 
coats, and  that  he  had  not  given  up  the  hope 
of  some  day  having  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five,  one  for  each  day  in  the  year.  He  aban- 
doned wool  in  favour  of  silk.  Rings  adorned 
his  fingers;  his  linen  was  of  the  finest  quality; 
and  he  used  perfumes,  of  which  he  was  pas- 
sionately fond. 

In  the  morning  he  went  to  the  Bois,  where 
the  other  young  men  of  fashion  congregated; 
he  sauntered  up  and  down  and  later  paid  visits; 


124  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

in  the  evening,  when  he  had  no  invitations  to 
social  functions,  he  dined  at  the  Rocher  de 
Cancale  or  at  Bignon's,  or  showed  himself  at 
the  Opera  in  the  box  occupied  by  an  ultra- 
fashionable  set  known  as  the  "Tigers."  After 
the  performance  he  hurried  off  to  cut  a  bril- 
liant figure  at  the  salon  of  the  beautiful  Del- 
phine  Gay,  the  wife  of  Emile  de  Girardin,  in 
company  with  Lautour-Mezeray,  the  "man  with 
the  camelia,"  Alphone  Karr,  Eugene  Sue,  Du- 
mas, and  sometimes  Victor  Hugo  and  Lamar- 
tine.  In  that  celebrated  apartment,  hung  in 
sea-green  damask,  which  formed  such  a  per- 
fect background  for  Delphine's  blonde  beauty, 
Balzac  would  arrive  exuberant,  resplendent 
with  health  and  happiness,  and  there  he  would 
remain  for  hours,  overflowing  with  wit  and 
brilliance. 

In  the  midst  of  this  worldly  life  he  by  no 
means  neglected  Mme.  de  Castries,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  was  assiduous  in  his  attentions  to  the 
fair  duchess.  At  her  home  he  met  the  Due 
de  Fitz-James  and  the  other  leaders  of  militant 
legitimism,  and  little  by  little  he  gravitated 


DANDYISM  125 

towards  their  party.  He  wrote  The  Life  of  a 
Woman  for  Le  Renovateur,  and  also  an  essay 
in  two  parts  on  The  Situation  of  the  Royalist 
Party;  but  it  was  not  long  before  he  quar- 
relled with  Laurentie,  the  editor  in  chief,  who 
probably  wounded  his  pride  as  a  man  of  letters. 
The  society  which  he  frequented  must  have 
reacted  on  Balzac,  for  it  was  at  this  time  that 
he  conceived  the  desire  of  proving  himself  a 
gentleman  by  descent,  the  issue  of  a  time-hon- 
oured stock,  the  d'Antragues  family.  He 
adopted  their  coat-of-arms  and  had  his  mono- 
gram surmounted  by  a  coronet.  Later  on  he 
abandoned  these  pretensions,  and  his  forceful 
and  proud  reply  is  well  known  when  some  one 
had  proved  to  him  that  he  had  no  connection 
with  any  branch  of  that  house: 

"Very  well,  so  much  the  worse  i or  them!" 
But  meanwhile,  how  about  his  work?  It  is 
not  known  by  what  prodigy  Balzac  kept  at  his 
task,  in  spite  of  this  busy  life  of  fashion  and 
frivolity.  He  published  The  Purse,  Mme. 
Firmiani,  A  Study  of  a  Woman,  The  Message, 
La  Grenadiere,  The  Forsaken  Woman,  Colonel 


126  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Chabert  (which  appeared  in  U  Artiste  under 
the  title  of  Transaction) ,  The  Vicar  of  Tours, 
and  he  composed  that  mystical  work  which 
cost  him  so  much  pains  that  he  almost  suc- 
cumbed to  it,  the  Biographical  Notice  of  Louis 
Lambert.  At  the  same  time  he  corrected,  im- 
proved and  partly  rewrote  The  Chouans  and 
the  newly  published  Magic  Skin,  with  a  view 
to  new  editions,  in  accordance  with  the  criti- 
cisms of  his  sister  Laure  and  Mme.  de  Berny. 
Nevertheless,  money  continued  to  evaporate 
under  his  prodigal  fingers;  he  had  counted  upon 
revenues  which  failed  to  materialise,  he  could 
no  longer  borrow,  for  his  credit  was  exhausted, 
and  he  found  himself  reduced  to  a  keener  pov- 
erty than  that  of  his  mansarde  garret.  After 
all  this  accumulation  of  work,  all  this  expendi- 
ture of  genius,  to  think  that  he  did  not  yet  have 
an  assured  living !  He  had  frightful  attacks  of 
depression,  but  they  had  no  sooner  passed  than 
his  will  power  was  as  strong  as  ever,  his  fever 
for  work  redoubled,  and  his  visionary  gaze  dis- 
cerned the  fair  horizons  of  hope  as  vividly  as 
though  they  were  already  within  reach  of  his 


DANDYISM  127 

hand.  Then  he  would  shut  himself  into  his 
room,  breaking  off  all  ties  with  the  social  world, 
or  else  would  flee  into  the  provinces,  far  from 
the  dizzy  whirl  of  Paris. 

Thus  it  happened  that  he  made  several  so- 
journs at  Sache  in  1831,  and  that  he  set  out 
for  it  once  again  in  1832,  determined  upon  a 
lengthy  absence.  Mme.  de  Castries  had  left 
Paris  and  had  asked  him  to  join  her  at  the 
waters  of  Aix  in  September;  but,  before  he 
could  permit  himself  to  take  this  trip,  he  must 
needs  have  the  sort  of  asylum  for  work  that 
awaited  him  in  Touraine. 

M.  de  Margonne,  his  host,  welcomed  him  like 
a  son  each  time  that  he  arrived.  He  had  en- 
tire liberty  to  live  at  the  chateau  precisely  as 
he  chose.  He  was  not  required  to  be  present 
at  meals,  nor  to  conform  to  any  of  the  social 
conventions  which  might  have  interfered  with 
the  most  profitable  employment  of  his  time.' 
If,  in  the  absorption  of  working  out  the  scheme 
of  the  task  which  he  had  in  progress,  he  was 
sometimes  irritable  and  sullen,  no  one  took 
offence  at  his  attitude.    When  he  had  not  yet 


128  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

reached  the  stage  of  the  actual  writing,  and 
was  merely  composing  his  drama  within  his 
powerful  imagination,  he  arose  early  in  the 
morning  and  set  off  upon  long  walks  across 
country,  sometimes  solitary  and  silent,  some- 
times getting  into  conversation  with  the  people 
he  met  and  asking  them  all  sorts  of  questions. 
He  had  no  other  source  of  amusement,  for  he 
did  not  care  for  hunting,  and,  as  to  fishing,  he 
made  no  success  of  it,  for  he  forgot  to  pull  in 
the  fish  after  they  had  taken  the  hook! 

"The  only  games  that  interested  him  were 
those  that  demanded  brain-work/'  writes  a 
relative  of  M.  de  Margonne,  M.  Salmon  de 
Maison-Rouge,  in  a  vivid  account  of  Balzac's 
visits  to  Sache.  "My  father,  who  prided  him- 
self upon  playing  a  very  good  game  of  check- 
ers, on  one  occasion  tried  a  game  with  him. 
After  several  moves  my  father  said,  "Why, 
Monsieur  de  Balzac,  we  are  not  playing  Give- 
away! You  are  letting  me  take  all  your  men; 
you  are  not  playing  the  game  seriously."  "In- 
deed, I  am,"  rejoined  Balzac,  "as  seriously  as 
possible,"  and  he  continued  to  let  his  men  be 


DANDYISM  129 

taken.  At  last  he  had  only  one  man  left,  but 
he  had  so  managed  the  moves  that,  without 
my  father  being  aware  of  it,  this  last  man  was 
in  a  position  to  take  all  the  men  my  father 
had  left  in  one  single  swoop, — and  there  were 
a  good  many,  for  M.  de  Balzac  had  taken  only 
six  up  to  that  move.  From  that  time  onward 
my  father  regarded  him  as  one  of  the  keenest 
minds  that  had  ever  lived."  * 

But  Balzac  was  not  staying  at  Sache  for  the 
purpose  of  playing  checkers,  and  in  the  same 
notice  M.  Salmon  tells  of  his  habits  of  work,  on 
the  strength  of  an  account  given  by  M.  de 
Margonne: 

"He  had  a  big  alarm-clock,"  he  writes,  "for 
he  slept  very  well  and  very  soundly,  and  he 
set  the  alarm  for  two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
Then  he  prepared  himself  some  coffee  over  a 
spirit  lamp,  together  with  seyeral  slices  of 
toasted  bread;  and  then  started  in  to  write  in 
bed,  making  use  of  a  desk  so  constructed  that 
he  could  freely  draw  up  his  knees  beneath 

*  Bulletin   of    the    Archaeological    Society    of    Touraine, 
Vol.  XII. 


130  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

it.  He  continued  to  write  in  this  manner  until 
five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  taking  no  other 
nourishment  than  his  coffee  and  his  slices  of 
toasted  bread. 

"At  five  o'clock  he  arose,  dressed  for  dinner, 
and  remained  with  his  hosts  in  the  drawing- 
room  until  ten  o'clock,  the  hour  at  which  he 
withdrew  to  go  to  bed.  And  he  never  in  the 
least  modified  this  settled  routine." 

These  sojourns  at  Sache  were  longer  or 
shorter  according  to  the  stage  of  his  work  and 
the  state  of  his  purse.  The  servants  at  the 
chateau  had  learned  to  tell  from  his  expression 
whether  he  was  prosperous  or  hard-up;  when 
he  felt  poor  he  met  them  with  an  affable  air  and 
kindly  words,  for  that  was  all  he  had  to  give 
them ;  when  he  was  rich  he  moved  among  them 
with  the  air  of  a  prince.  They  pardoned  his 
haughty  manner  because  he  was  generous.  M. 
de  Margonne  often  aided  him  with  loans,  but 
in  order  to  keep  him  as  long  as  possible,  he 
never  gave  him  the  money  until  the  moment 
of  his  departure. 

On  leaving  Paris  for  he  knew  not  how  long, 


DANDYISM  131 

Honore  de  Balzac  entrusted  his  interests  to  his 
mother.  They  were  of  such  opposite  tempera- 
ments, the  one  imaginative  and  extravagant, 
staking  his  whole  life  and  fortune  on  fabulous 
figures,  and  the  other  precise,  calculating  and 
rather  austere,  that  they  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  understand  each  other,  and  frequent 
clashes  had  blunted  all  their  tenderer  impulses. 
Mme.  de  Balzac  could  not  understand  her  son's 
blunders,  and  blamed  him  severely  for  them. 
She  suffered  from  his  apparently  dissipated  life, 
his  love  of  luxury,  his  belief  in  his  own  great- 
ness, of  which  no  evidence  had  yet  been  offered 
to  her  matter-of-fact  mind.  Still  wholly  un- 
aware of  his  genius,  she  could  not  fail  to  mis- 
judge him.  Yet  she  had  already  sacrificed  her- 
self once  to  save  him  from  bankruptcy;  and, 
with  all  her  frowning  and  grumbling,  she  would 
never  refuse  her  aid  and  experience  when  he 
asked  for  it. 

It  was  Mme.  de  Balzac  who  undertook  to 
see  the  publishers  and  magazine  editors,  to  pass 
upon  the  contracts,  to  follow  up  the  negotia- 
tions already  under  way,  and  to  conclude  them; 


132  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

in  short,  she  represented  her  son  in  all  respects 
in  his  badly  involved  business  relations.  From 
a  distance  he  supervised  operations,  with  a 
mathematical  keenness  of  vision,  and  his 
mother  assumed  the  responsibility  of  carrying 
out  his  wishes,  bringing  to  the  contest  all  her 
qualities  of  vigour,  clear  perception  and  crafty 
dealings.  Honore  de  Balzac  did  not  spare  her, 
for  he  estimated  her  endurance  by  his  own; 
and  no  sooner  was  he  installed  at  Sache  than 
he  began  to  give  her  instructions  that  were 
little  short  of  orders.  She  must  copy  The 
Grocer,  which  the  Silhouette  had  published, 
send  him  a  copy  of  Contes  Bruns,  obtain  from 
Mme.  de  Berny  a  volume  of  The  Chouans 
with  her  corrections,  read  the  article  on  Ber- 
nard Palissy  in  the  great  Biographie  Univer- 
selle,  copy  it,  and  make  note  of  all  the  works 
that  Palissy  had  written  or  which  had  been 
written  about  him,  then  hurry  with  those  notes 
to  M.  de  Mame,  the  book-seller, — whom  she 
was  to  present  with  copies  of  volumes  III  and 
IV  of  Scenes  of  Private  Life,  telling  him  that 
Honore  had  had  a  fall  and  could  not  leave  the 


DANDYISM  133 

house, — and  ask  him  to  procure  the  works  on 
her  list, — then  go  to  Laure,  and  read  the  notice 
on  Bernard  Palissy  in  "Papa's  Biography/'  to 
see  whether  any  other  works  are  mentioned 
which  were  not  included  in  the  Biographie 
Universelle,  and  to  buy  elsewhere  whatever 
M.  de  Mame  did  not  have,  if  they  were  not 
too  dear,  and  send  them  all  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. These  works  were  all  needed  by  Balzac 
as  documents  for  the  Search  for  the  Absolute, 
which  was  meant  to  conclude  the  fourth  volume 
of  Philosophic  Tales,  published  by  Gosselin, 
— but  probably  they  did  not  reach  him  in  time, 
for  the  Search  for  the  Absolute  did  not  ap- 
pear until  1834,  and  its  place  in  the  Tales  was 
taken  by  the  Biographic  Notice  of  Louis  Lam- 
bert. 

To  these  express  recommendations  regarding 
his  work  Balzac  added  orders  relative  to  his 
household.  He  "desired"  that  Leclercq  should 
take  out  the  horses  half  an  hour  each  day; 
he  concerned  himself  in  regard  to  his  out- 
standing debts,  and  he  begged  his  mother  to 


134  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

find  out  what  he  owed  for  June  and  July,  so 
that  he  could  get  her  the  money. 

Those  few  months  of  fashionable  life  and  his 
frequenting  aristocratic  clubs  had  put  his  af- 
fairs in  a  piteous  state.  Mme.  de  Balzac  drew 
up  a  balance  sheet,  without  any  attempt  to 
spare  him,  and  pointed  out  just  what  sacrifices 
were  necessary.  He  was  in  no  position  to  meet 
the  heavy  demands,  in  spite  of  his  desperate 
toil.  A  gleam  of  hope,  however,  came  in  the 
midst  of  his  distress,  for  his  friends  at  Sache 
held  out  prospects  of  a  wealthy  marriage;  but 
this  hope  was  an  elusive  one:  the  prospective 
bride  was  not  expected  in  Touraine  until  the 
month  of  October,  and  how  in  the  meantime 
was  he  to  pay  his  pressing  debts?  He  calcu- 
lated the  utmost  that  he  could  earn,  he  as- 
sumed certain  advances,  he  added  up  and  with 
the  help  of  his  optimism  he  swelled  his  pros- 
pective receipts,  yet  not  sufficiently  to  satisfy 
his  creditors.  He  groaned,  for  he  did  not  wish 
to  sell  at  a  loss  what  he  had  acquired  with  such 
difficulty,  despoil  himself,  strip  himself  bare 
like  a  St.  John; — then  his  energy  reawoke  and 


DANDYISM  135 

his  self-confidence  enabled  him  to  accept  the 
hard  test.  He  consented  to  give  up  his 
horses, — for  whose  feed  he  was  still  owing, 
since  he  could  not  feed  them  on  poetry,  as  he 
humorously  wrote  to  Mme.  de  Girardin, — and 
his  cabriolet.  What  matter?  He  was  strong 
enough  to  rebuild  the  foundations  of  his  for- 
tune! 

From  now  on  Honore  de  Balzac  thought  of 
nothing  but  his  work.  He  wrote  his  Bio- 
graphical  Notice  oj  Louis  Lambert  in  thirty 
days  and  fifteen  nights;  but  this  effort  was  so 
prodigious  that  an  apoplectic  stroke  prostrated 
him  and  he  came  very  near  dying.  He  en- 
dured his  financial  anxieties  and  empty  purse, 
upheld  by  the  certainty  of  his  own  genius.  He 
knew  how  much  unfinished  work  there  was  in 
the  first  version  of  his  books  and  he  had  spells 
of  artistic  despair,  but  they  were  brief,  for  he 
relied  on  his  strength  of  will  to  bring  his  writ- 
ings to  the  perfection  of  which  he  dreamed. 
'This  Biographic  Notice  of  Louis  Lambert/' 
he  wrote  to  Laure,  "is  a  work  in  which  I  have 
tried  to  rival  Goethe  and  Byron,  to  out-do 


136  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Faust  and  Manfred;  and  the  tilt  is  not  over 
yet,  for  the  proof  sheets  are  not  yet  cor- 
rected. I  do  not  know  whether  I  shall  suc- 
ceed, but  this  fourth  volume  of  Philesophic 
Tales  ought  to  be  a  final  reply  to  my  enemies, 
and  ought  to  show  my  incontestable  superior- 
ity." When  his  family  became  concerned  over 
his  precarious  situation,  and  the  complications 
in  which  he  had  entangled  himself,  Balzac  an- 
swered their  reproaches  by  prophesying  the 
future:  "Yes,  you  are  right,"  he  said  to  Laure, 
"I  shall  not  stop,  I  shall  go  on  and  on  until  I 
attain  my  goal,  and  you  will  see  the  day  when 
I  shall  be  numbered  among  the  great  minds  of 
my  country."  Then,  in  the  same  letter,  he 
added,  for  his  mother's  benefit:  "Yes,  you  are 
right,  my  progress  is  real  and  my  infernal  cour- 
age will  be  rewarded.  Persuade  my  mother 
to  think  so  too,  dear  sister;  tell  her  to  show 
me  the  charity  of  a  little  patience;  her  devo- 
tion will  be  rewarded!  Some  day,  I  hope,  a 
little  glory  will  pay  her  for  everything!  Poor 
mother!  The  imagination  with  which  she  en- 
dowed me  is  a  perpetual  bewilderment  to  her; 


DANDYISM  137 

she  cannot  tell  north  from  south  nor  east  from 
west;  and  that  sort  of  journeying  is  fatiguing, 
as  I  know  from  experience! 

"Tell  my  mother  that  I  love  her  as  I  did 
when  I  was  a  child.  Tears  overcome  me  as  I 
write  these  lines,  tears  of  tenderness  and  de- 
spair, for  I  foresee  the  future,  and  I  shall  need 
that  devoted  mother  on  the  day  of  my  triumph  I 
But  when  will  that  day  come?" 

Lastly,  he  explained  the  necessity  of  his  iso- 
lation and  excused  himself  for  it:  "Some  day, 
when  my  works  are  developed,  you  will  realise 
that  it  required  many  an  hour  to  think  out  and 
write  so  many  things;  then  you  will  absolve  me 
for  all  that  has  displeased  you,  and  you  will 
pardon,  not  the  egoism  of  the  man  (for  he  has 
none),  but  the  egoism  of  the  thinker  and 
worker." 

Towards  the  middle  of  July  he  left  Sache  in 
order  to  go  to  Angouleme,  to  visit  Mme.  Car- 
raud,  whose  husband  had  been  appointed  In- 
spector of  the  Powder  Works,  just  outside  the 
town.  He  arrived  there  on  the  17th,  intending 
to  stay  five  weeks  and  happy  to  have  reached 


138  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

this  friendly  asylum.  Mme.  Carraud  was  one 
of  the  women  who  had  the  most  faith  in 
Balzac ;  she  was  the  recipient  of  his  confidences, 
even  the  most  delicate  ones;  and  when  his 
conduct  displeased  her  she  did  not  hesitate  to 
take  him  to  task.  In  her  home  Honore  was 
treated  as  a  son  of  the  family,  and  Commander 
Carraud  also  welcomed  him  with  cordial  affec- 
tion. In  their  house,  just  as  at  Sache,  he  kept 
on  with  his  work,  for  "I  must  work"  was  his 
life-long  cry,  which  he  sometimes  uttered 
blithely,  in  the  luminous  joy  of  creation,  and 
sometimes  with  a  horrible  breathlessness,  as 
though  he  was  gradually  being  crushed  by  the 
weight  of  his  superhuman  task.  But  he  never 
succumbed.  From  the  moment  of  his  arrival 
at  the  Powder  Works,  notwithstanding  the  fa- 
tigue of  the  journey,  he  hardly  gave  himself 
time  to  clasp  the  hands  of  his  friends  before  he 
plunged  into  the  concluding  chapters  of  Louis 
Lambert;  and  even  when  he  was  not  writing 
he  gave  himself  no  rest,  but  set  about  the 
preparation  of  new  works.  He  led  an  even  more 
cloistered  life  here  than  at  Sache,  interrupting 


DANDYISM  139 

all  correspondence  excepting  business  letters  to 
his  mother.  For  he  was  bent  upon  gaining  two 
things,  money  and  fame.  Besides,  there  were 
the  corrections  to  be  made  in  The  Chouans, 
in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  Philosophic 
Tales,  and  he  was  writing  The  Battle  (which 
never  was  published),  the  Contes  Drolatiques, 
the  Studies  of  Women,  the  Conversations  be- 
tween Eleven  o 'Clock  and  Midnight,  La  Gren- 
adier e  (written  in  one  night),  and  The  Ac- 
cursed Child,  and  at  the  same  time  was  plan- 
ning The  Country  Doctor,  one  of  his  most  im- 
portant works. 

Meanwhile,  Mme.  Carraud  was  proud  of  her 
guest.  She  entertained  her  friends  at  the 
Powder  Works,  the  father  and  mother  of  Al- 
beric  Second,  and  M.  Berges,  principal  of  the 
high  school,  who  was  later  to  support  Balzac's 
candidacy  in  Angouleme.  The  local  paper,  the 
Charentais,  had  announced  the  presence  of  the 
author  of  The  Magic  Skin,  and  when  he  went 
to  have  his  hair  cut  by  the  barber,  Fruchet,  in 
the  Place  du  Marche,  he  was  the  object  of  pub- 
lic attention,     The  young  men  of  the  demo- 


140  ,  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

cratic  club  called  upon  him  and  assured  him 
that  they  would  support  his  candidacy,  in  spite 
of  his  aristocratic  opinions.  Balzac  awoke  to  a 
consciousness  of  the  value  of  his  name,  and  in 
the  letters  to  his  mother  dealing  with  business 
relations  with  his  publishers  assumed  a  more 
commanding  tone.  She  need  not  trouble  her- 
self further,  he  wrote,  in  calling  on  magazine 
editors;  she  was  to  send  for  M.  Pichot,  editor 
of  the  Revue  de  Paris,  to  come  to  her  house, 
and  she  was  to  lay  down  certain  conditions, 
which  he  could  accept  or  refuse,  according  to 
whether  he  wanted  more  of  Balzac's  copy  or 
not.  Pichot  must  agree  in  writing  to  pay  two 
hundred  francs  a  page,  with  no  reduction  for 
blank  spaces.  Balzac  was  to  be  at  liberty  to  re- 
print the  published  articles  in  book  form,  and 
no  disagreeable  paragraph  in  reference  to  him- 
self or  his  works  was  to  be  published  in  the 
magazine.  So  much  for  M.  Pichot!  Next,  she 
was  to  summon  M.  Buloz,  of  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes,  to  come  in  his  turn  to  her  house, 
and  here  are  the  detailed  instructions  which 
Mme.  de  Balzac  was  to  follow  in  his  case :  "You 


DANDYISM  141 

will  show  him  the  manuscript,  without  letting 
him  take  it  with  him,  because  you  are  only  an 
agent  and  do  not  know  the  usual  customs.  Be 
very  polite. 

"You  will  tell  him  that  I  wish  him  to  write 
a  letter  promising  not  to  print  anything  dis- 
pleasing to  me  in  his  magazine,  either  directly 
or  indirectly; 

"That  he  shall  give  a  receipt  for  all  out- 
standing accounts,  with  settlement  in  full  up 
to  September  1,  1832,  between  me  and  the 
Revue; 

"That  my  contributions  are  to  be  printed  in 
the  largest  sized  type; 

"And  paid  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  francs 
a  page,  without  deduction  for  blank  spaces. 

"After  he  has  agreed  in  writing  to  these 
terms,  let  him  have  The  Orphans  (the  defini- 
tive title  of  which  was  La  Grenadier  e) ; 

"Buloz  must  have  a  good  article  written  on 
the  Scenes  and  the  fourth  volume  of  the 
Philosophic  Tales.'9 

Having  taken  this  masterful  tone,  Balzac 
gave  his  mother  this  final  practical  recommen- 


142  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

dation,  never  to  give  credit  to  any  periodical 
and  to  demand  the  money  immediately  after 
publication  of  the  article ! 

Having  made  all  his  plans  in  detail,  Balzac 
left  Angouleme  on  August  22,  1832,  in  order 
to  join  Mme.  de  Castries  at  the  waters  of  Aix. 
It  was  an  amorous  adventure,  yet  he  did  not 
enter  into  it  without  certain  misgivings,  for  he 
did  not  know  whether  the  duchess  was  sincere 
or  whether  she  was  playing  with  his  feelings. 
Nevertheless,  he  set  out  joyously,  although 
lightly  equipped  in  the  way  of  money, — Com- 
mander Carraud  was  obliged  to  lend  him  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  francs, — but  with  several  stories 
begun  and  plenty  of  work  on  hand,  for  nothing, 
not  even  the  hope  of  being  loved  by  a  woman 
of  high  position,  could  make  him  forget  his 
work.  He  arrived  at  Limoges,  where  he  saw 
Mme.  Nivet,  Mme.  Carraud's  sister,  who  had 
bought  him  some  enamels,  and  to  whom  he  ap- 
plied to  superintend  his  orders  of  porcelain. 
Faithful  to  his  method  of  documentation,  he 
visited  the  sights  of  the  city  rapidly,  within  a 
few  hours,  and  such  was  his  keenness  of  vision 


DANDYISM  143 

and  tenacity  of  memory  that  he  was  able  after- 
wards to  describe  it  all  exactly,  down  to  the 
slightest  details.  On  the  very  evening  after  his 
arrival  at  Angouleme  he  set  forth  for  Lyons, 
but  the  journey  was  fated  not  to  be  made  with- 
out an  accident,  for  in  descending  from  an  out- 
side seat  of  the  coach,  at  Thiers,  Balzac  struck 
his  knee  against  one  of  the  steps  so  violently 
that — in  view  of  his  heavy  weight — he  re- 
ceived a  painful  wound  on  his  shin.  He  was 
tended  at  Lyons,  the  wound  healed,  and  he 
profited  by  his  enforced  quiet  to  correct  Louis 
Lambert  and  to  add  to  it  those  "last  thoughts" 
which  form  one  of  the  highest  monuments  of 
human  intelligence. 

Honore  de  Balzac  installed  himself  at  Aix, 
near  Mme.  de  Castries.  He  was  happy,  for  she 
had  received  him  with  a  thousand  charming 
coquetries;  and  he  had  paid  his  court  to  her, 
yet  he  did  not  interrupt  his  work  for  a  single 
day!  "I  have  a  simple  little  chamber,"  he 
wrote  to  Mme.  Carraud,  "from  which  I  can  see 
the  entire  valley.  I  force  myself  pitilessly  to 
rise  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  I  work 


144  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

beside  my  window  until  five-thirty  in  the  after- 
noon. My  breakfast,  an  egg,  is  sent  in  from 
the  club.  Mme.  de  Castries  has  some  good 
coffee  made  for  me.  At  six  o'clock  we  dine 
together,  and  I  pass  the  evening  with  her." 

Balzac  lived  economically.  His  chamber  cost 
him  two  francs  a  day  and  his  breakfast  fifteen 
sous.  Yet,  after  having  rendered  an  account 
of  his  expenses  to  his  mother,  he  was  obliged 
to  ask  her  for  money;  and  he  played  her  an- 
other of  his  characteristic  neat  little  tricks.  At 
Aix  he  had  happened  to  run  across  a  certain 
Auguste  Sannegou,  to  whom  he  owed  eleven 
hundred  francs.  And,  as  the  latter  had  just 
been  losing  rather  heavily,  he  offered  to  reim- 
burse him,  an  offer  which  Sannegou  lost  no 
time  in  accepting  with  pleasure.  Consequently 
it  became  necessary  for  Mme.  de  Balzac  to 
send  her  son  the  eleven  hundred  francs  post- 
haste, plus  two  hundred  francs  which  he  needed 
for  his  personal  expenses.  His  mother  made 
the  sacrifice, — for  he  sent  her  a  beautiful  ac- 
count of  perspective  revenues:  3,000  francs 
from  the  Revue  de  Paris,  2,000  francs  for  La 


DANDYISM  145 

Bataille,  2,000  francs  for  a  volume  of  Contes 
Drolatiques,  5,000  for  four  new  volumes  to  be 
brought  out  by  Mame,  total,  9,000  francs, — and 
after  he  received  the  money  he  acknowledged 
that  he  paid  only  half  the  sum  due  to  Sanne- 
gou,  and  kept  the  rest  for  a  trip  to  Italy. 

The  Fitz-James  family  came  to  rejoin  the 
duchess;  Balzac  was  exultant;  he  had  been  ex- 
ceedingly well  treated  and  had  been  promised 
a  seat  as  deputy,  if  a  general  election  took 
place;  and  he  was  to  go  to  Rome  in  the  same 
pleasant  company.  But  he  lacked  money,  and 
the  sums  which  his  mother  was  about  to  col- 
lect in  Paris  were  destined  to  meet  maturing 
notes.  Besides,  he  was  anxious  to  finish,  with- 
out further  delay,  The  Country  Doctor,  which 
he  announced  to  his  publisher,  Mame,  in  tri- 
umphant terms: 

"Be  doubly  attentive,  Master  Mame!"  he 
wrote.  "I  have  been  for  a  long  time  imbued 
with  a  desire  for  that  form  of  popular  fame 
which  consists  in  selling  many  thousands  of 
copies  of  a  little  18mo  volume  like  Atala,  Paul 
and  Virginia,  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  Manon 


146  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Lescaut,  Perrault,  etc.,  etc.  The  multiplicity 
of  editions  offsets  the  lack  of  a  number  of  vol- 
umes. But  the  book  must  be  one  which  can 
pass  into  all  hands,  those  of  the  young  girl,  the 
child,  the  old  man,  and  even  the  nun.  When 
the  book  once  becomes  known, — which  will 
take  a  long  or  a  short  time,  according  to  the 
talent  of  the  author  and  the  ability  of  the  pub- 
lisher,— it  becomes  a  matter  of  importance. 
For  example:  the  Meditations  of  Lamartine, 
of  which  sixty  thousand  copies  were  sold;  the 
Ruins  by  Volny,  etc. 

"Accordingly,  this  is  the  spirit  in  which  my 
book  is  conceived,  a  book  which  the  janitor's 
wife  and  the  fashionable  lady  can  both  read. 
I  have  taken  the  New  Testament  and  the 
Catechism,  two  books  of  excellent  quality,  and 
have  wrought  my  own  from  them.  I  have  laid 
the  scene  in  a  village, — and,  for  the  rest,  you 
will  read  it  in  its  entirety,  a  thing  which  rarely 
happens  to  a  book  of  mine." 

For  this  work  Balzac  demanded  a  franc  a 
volume,  or  seventy-five  centimes  at  least,  and 
an  advance  of  a  thousand  francs.     This  sum 


DANDYISM  147 

was  indispensable  if  he  was  to  go  to  Italy.  The 
trip  began  in  October,  under  happy  auspices, 
and  on  the  16th  they  stopped  over  at  Geneva. 
From  there  Balzac  sent  his  mother  two  samples 
of  flannel  which  he  had  worn  over  his  stomach. 
He  wanted  her  to  show  them  to  M.  Chapelain, 
a  practitioner  of  medical  magnetism,  in  order 
to  consult  him  regarding  a  malady  which  he 
suspected  that  he  had,  and  ask  him  where  it 
was  located  and  what  treatment  he  should  fol- 
low. Balzac  was  a  believer  in  occult  sciences, 
and  once  before,  during  the  epidemic  of  cholera 
in  1832,  he  wrote  to  M.  Chapelain,  asking  if 
he  could  not  discover  the  origin  of  the  scourge 
and  find  remedies  capable  of  stopping  it.  It 
was  not  only  magnetism  that  interested  him, 
but  clairvoyance  as  well,  fortune  tellers  and 
readers  of  cards,  to  whom  he  attributed  an 
acuteness  of  perception  unknown  to  ordinary 
natures. 

This  enjoyable  trip  was  destined  to  end  at 
Geneva,  so  far  as  Balzac  was  concerned. 
Whether  he  realised  that  Mme.  de  Castries  was 
merely  playing  with  his  affections,  or  whether 


148  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

his  pride  was  hurt  by  some  unlucky  phrase,  no 
one  knows,  but  he  suddenly  deserted  his  com- 
panions and  returned  to  France,  offering  as  a 
pretext  the  urgency  of  his  literary  work.  This 
adventure  left  an  open  wound,  and  it  took 
more  than  five  years  to  cure  him.  He  suffered 
cruelly,  and  we  get  an  echo  of  his  pain  in  the 
line  in  the  Country  Doctor,  "For  wounded 
hearts,  darkness  and  silence."  He  avenged 
himself  on  Mme.  de  Castries  by  writing  The 
Duchess  of  Langeais,  in  which  he  showed  how 
a  society  woman  amused  herself  by  torturing  a 
sensitive  and  sincere  gentleman. 


MME.  HANSKA  AND  BALZAC 

Above:  Mme.  Hanska,  whom  the  great  novelist  married  in  1850, 
a  few  months  before  his  death. — Balzac,  from  the  painting  by  Louis 
Boulanger.  Below:  Mme.  Hanska's  Chateau  at  Wiertzkownia  in 
Poland,  where  Balzac  lived  from  1848  until  his  return  to  France. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE    "FOREIGN    LADY" 


A  FTER  his  return  to  Paris,  Balzac  threw 
j£*Z  himself  into  a  frightful  orgy  of  work.  It 
would  seem  as  though  his  one  desire  was  to 
forget  the  coquette  who  had  so  cruelly  pun- 
ished him  for  loving  her,  and  as  though  he 
felt  the  need  of  atoning  to  himself  for  the 
hours  that  she  had  taken  him  from  his  work. 
His  physician,  Dr.  Nacquart,  feared  that  he 
would  break  down,  and  prescribed  a  month's 
rest,  during  which  time  he  was  neither  to  read 
nor  write,  but  lead  a  purely  vegetative  life. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  this  injunction,  he  found  him- 
self unable  to  stop  working,  for  he  was  urged 
on  by  his  genius,  and  hounded  by  the  terrible 
necessity  of  meeting  maturing  notes,  as  well  as 
by  his  own  luxurious  tastes  which  must  be  satis- 
fied at  any  cost.  He  had  the  most  extravagant 
hopes  of  big  returns  from  The  Country  Doc- 
149 


150  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

tor;  and  in  this  belief  his  friends  encouraged 
him.  Emile  de  Girardin  and  Auguste  Borget 
estimated  that  the  book  would  sell  to  the  ex- 
tent of  four  hundred  thousand  copies.  It  was 
proposed  to  bring  out  a  one-franc  edition  which 
was  expected  to  circulate  broadcast,  like  prayer- 
books.  Balzac  made  his  own  calculations, — for 
he  was  eternally  making  calculations, — and,  re- 
lying confidently  upon  their  accuracy,  allowed 
himself  to  purchase  carpets,  bric-a-brac,  a 
Limoges  dinner  set,  a  silver  service  and  jew- 
ellery, all  for  the  adornment  of  the  small  den 
in  the  Rue  Cassini.  He  ordered  chandeliers; 
he  stopped  short  of  nothing  save  a  silver  chaf- 
ing-dish. He  piled  debts  upon  debts:  but  what 
difference  did  it  make,  for  success  was  before 
him,  within  reach  of  his  hand,  and  he  would 
have  no  trouble  at  all  to  pay! 

Alas,  none  of  the  actualities  of  life  would  ever 
break  down  his  robust  confidence  nor  his  gold- 
en dreams!  Even  before  The  Country  Doc- 
tor was  published  he  found  himself  involved 
in  a  law  suit  with  his  publisher,  and  after  its 
appearance  the  public  press  criticised  it  sharply. 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  151 

"Everyone  has  his  knife  out  for  me,"  he  wrote 
to  Mme.  Hanska,  "a  situation  which  saddened 
and  angered  Lord  Byron  only  makes  me  laugh. 
I  mean  to  govern  the  intellectual  world  of 
Europe,  and  with  two  more  years  of  patience 
and  toil  I  shall  trample  on  the  heads  of  all 
those  who  now  wish  to  tie  my  hands  and  re- 
tard my  flight!  Persecution  and  injustice  have 
given  me  a  brazen  courage." 

After  each  of  his  disillusions  he  had  arisen 
again  stronger  than  before;  and  at  this  junc- 
ture a  new  element  had  entered  into  his  life 
which  gave  him  an  augmented  energy  and  cour- 
age. This  element  was  the  one  secret  romance 
of  his  life,  which  gave  rise  to  a  host  of  anec- 
dotes and  legends.  In  the  month  of  February, 
1832,  his  publisher,  Gosselin,  forwarded  a  let- 
ter to  him,  signed  L'lStrangere,  "A  Foreign 
Lady,"  which  caught  his  attention  by  the  no- 
bility of  the  thoughts  expressed  in  it.  This 
first  letter  was  followed  by  several  others,  and 
in  one  of  them,  dated  November  7th,  the  "For- 
eign Lady"  requested  him  to  let  her  know  of  its 
safe  arrival:    "A  line  from  you,  published  in 


152  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

La  Quotidienne,  will  assure  me  that  you  have 
received  my  letter,  and  that  I  may  write  to 
you  without  fear.  Sign  it,  A  L'E.  H.  de  B. 
(To  the  Foreign  Lady  from  H.  de  B.')  "  The 
line  requested  appeared  in  La  Quotidienne,  in 
its  issue  of  December  9th,  and  thus  began  a 
long  and  almost  daily  correspondence  which 
was  destined  to  last  for  seventeen  years. 

The  "Foreign  Lady"  was  a  Polish  woman  of 
noble  birth,  Mme.  Hanska,  who  before  her  mar- 
riage Was  Countesse  Eveline  Rzewuska,  who 
lived  at  her  chateau  of  Wierschownia,  in 
Volhynia,  with  her  husband,  who  possessed  vast 
estates,  and  her  daughter,  Anna,  who  was  still 
a  child.  Mme.  Hanska  had  read  the  Scenes 
from  Private  Life,  and  she  had  been  filled 
with  enthusiasm  for  the  author's  talent  and 
with  a  great  hope  of  being  able  to  exert  an 
influence  over  his  mind  and  to  direct  his  ideas. 

The  mysterious  nature  of  this  strange  cor- 
respondence pleased  Balzac:  he  was  able,  in 
the  course  of  it,  to  give  free  rein  to  his  imagi- 
nation, and  at  the  same  time  to  picture  her  to 
himself  as  a  type  of  woman  such  as  he  had 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  153 

longed  for  through  many  years,  endowing  her 
with  a  beauty  which  represented  all  the  vir- 
tues. His  first  letters,  although  dignified  and 
reserved,  nevertheless  revealed  the  fact  that  he 
was  seeking  for  some  woman  in  whom  he  could 
confide,  and  very  soon  he  began  to  pour  out 
his  heart  freely.  It  is  in  this  collection  of  let- 
ters, which  extend  from  January,  1833,  down 
to  1847,  that  we  must  search  for  the  true  de- 
tails of  his  life,  rather  than  in  any  of  those 
collections  of  doubtful  anecdotes,  which  show 
it  only  in  the  distorted  form  of  caricature,  and 
only  too  often  have  no  foundation  cf  truth. 
Nevertheless  it  is  necessary  to  read  them  with 
a  certain  amount  of  critical  reservation,  for  he 
often  shows  himself  in  them  in  a  false  light, 
which  probably  seemed  necessary  to  him,  in 
order  to  carry  out  the  diplomatic  course  which 
he  had  undertaken,  and  which  terminated  in 
his  marriage. 

From  1833  onward  he  was  destined  to  lead  a 
double  life,  the  one  before  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  with  its  gesticulations,  its  eccentricities, 
its  harlequinades,  that  left  the  lookers-on  gap- 


154  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ing  with  amazement;  and  the  other  his  secret 
life,  which  he  revealed  only  to  Mme.  Hanska, 
day  by  day, — his  slave-like  toil,  his  burden  of 
debts  which  no  amount  of  effort  seemed  to 
lighten,  his  prodigious  hopes,  and  from  time 
to  time  his  desperate  weariness. 

After  the  publication  of  The  Country  Doc- 
tor  the  confused  plan  of  his  vast  work  took 
more  definite  form,  the  scattered  parts  began 
to  fit  together,  and  he  foresaw  the  immense 
monument  in  which  he  was  destined  to  embody 
an  entire  social  epoch. 

"The  day  when  he  was  first  inspired  with 
this  idea  was  a  wonderful  day  for  him,"  Mme. 
Surville  has  recorded.  "He  set  forth  from  the 
Rue  Cassini,  where  he  had  taken  up  his  resi- 
dence after  leaving  the  Rue  de  Tournon,  and 
hurried  to  the  Faubourg  Poissonniere,  where  I 
was  then  living. 

"  'Salute  me/  he  cried  out  joyously,  'for  I 
am  on  the  high  road  to  become  a  genius!' 

"He  then  proceeded  to  unfold  his  plan  to 
us,  although  it  still  rather  frightened  him.  In 
spite  of  the  vastness  of  his  brain,  time  alone 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  155 

would  enable  him  to  work  out  such  a  plan  in 
detail! 

"  'How  splendid  it  will  be  if  I  succeed!'  he 
said  as  he  strode  up  and  down  the  parlour;  he 
was  too  excited  to  remain  in  one  place  and  joy 
radiated  from  all  his  features.  'From  now  on 
they  are  welcome  to  call  me  Balzac  the  tale- 
smith!  I  shall  go  on  tranquilly  squaring  my 
stones  and  enjoying  in  advance  the  amazement 
of  all  these  purblind  critics  when  they  finally 
discover  the  great  structure  that  I  am  build- 
ing V" 

What  vital  force  there  was  in  all  the  charac- 
ters of  Balzac's  novels,  and  how  well  entitled 
he  was  to  boast  that  he  was  running  in  com- 
petition with  the  whole  social  structure!  He 
had  not  yet  formulated  his  conception  of  the 
Human  Comedy,  but  he  was  on  the  road  to 
it  when  he  planned  to  rearrange  the  volumes 
already  published  with  others  that  he  had  in 
preparation,  in  a  series  of  scenes  in  which  the 
representative  types  of  the  different  social 
classes  should  develop.  This  was  the  first 
rough  draft  of  his  later  great  collected  editions. 


156  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

In  order  to  carry  out  his  plan,  he  had  to  break 
with  his  former  publishers,  pay  back  advance 
royalties,  and  defend  law-suits.  His  collective 
edition  took  the  general  title  of  Studies  of  the 
Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, and  was  divided  into  Scenes  of  Private 
Life,  Scenes  of  Provincial  Life,  and  Scenes  of 
Parisian  Life.  He  gave  the  rights  of  publi- 
cation of  this  collective  edition  first  to  Madame 
the  Widow  Bechet  and  later  to  Edmond  Wer- 
clet,  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  twenty- 
seven  thousand  francs.  This  was  the  most  ad- 
vantageous contract  that  he  had  made  up  to 
this  time,  and  he  hoped  that  it  would  free  him 
from  all  his  debts,  with  the  exception  of  what 
he  owed  his  mother.  In  addition  to  his  previ- 
ously published  volumes,  he  included  in  this 
edition  the  following  new  works:  Eugenie 
Grandet,  The  Illustrious  Gaudissart,  The 
Maranas,  Ferragus,  The  Duchess  of  Langeais, 
The  Girl  with  the  Golden  Eyes,  The  Search 
for  the  Absolute,  The  Marriage  Contract,  The 
Old  Maid,  and  the  first  part  of  Lost  Illusions. 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  157 

But  he  did  not  include  either  The  Chouans 
or  his  philosophic  works. 

Twenty-seven  thousand  francs  was  an  enor- 
mous sum,  without  parallel  save  that  paid  to 
Chateaubriand  for  his  collected  works;  but  in 
Balzac's  case  the  payment  was  made  in  the  form 
of  notes  for  long  periods,  and  he  was  left  with- 
out ready  money.  In  the  midst  of  all  his  other 
labours  he  had  to  rack  his  brain  in  order  to  find 
some  way  of  cashing  these  notes.  "Finding  that 
I  had  nothing  to  hope  for  from  the  bankers/' 
he  wrote  to  Mme.  Hanska,  "I  remembered  that 
I  owed  three  hundred  francs  to  my  doctor,  so 
I  called  upon  him  in  order  to  settle  my  account 
with  one  of  my  bits  of  negotiable  paper,  and 
he  gave  me  change  amounting  to  seven  hun- 
dred francs,  minus  the  discount.  From  there 
I  made  my  way  to  my  landlord,, an  old  grain 
dealer  in  the  Halle,  and  paid  my  rent  with 
another  of  my  notes,  which  he  accepted,  giving 
me  back  another  seven  hundred  francs,  minus 
the  exchange;  from  him  I  went  to  my  tailor, 
who,  without  demur,  took  over  another  of  my 


158  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

thousand  franc  notes,  entered  it  in  his  ledger, 
and  paid  me  the  whole  thousand  francs! 

"Seeing  that  I  was  in  for  a  run  of  luck,  I 
took  a  cab  and  drove  to  the  home  of  a  friend, 
who  is  a  millionaire  twice  over,  a  friend  of 
twenty  years'  standing.  As  it  happened,  he  had 
just  returned  from  Berlin,  I  found  him  in,  and 
at  once  he  hurried  to  his  desk,  gave  me  two 
thousand  francs,  and  relieved  me  of  two  more 
of  the  Widow  BSchet's  notes,  without  even 
looking  at  them.  Ha!  ha! — I  returned  to  my 
rooms  and  summoned  m£  vendor  of  wood  and 
my  grocer,  in  order  to  settle  my  accounts,  and, 
in  place  of  a  five  hundred  franc  bank  note, 
slipped  each  of  them  one  of  the  widow's  five 
hundred  franc  promissory  notes!  By  four 
o'clock  I  was  free  once  more  and  ready  to  meet 
the  next  day's  obligations.  My  mind  is  at  ease 
for  a  month  to  come.  I  can  seat  myself  once 
more  in  the  fragile  swing  of  my  dreams  and  let 
my  imagination  keep  me  swinging.  Ecco,  Sig- 
nora! 

"My  dear,  faithful  wife-to-be,  did  I  not  owe 
you  this  faithful  picture  of  your  future  home 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  159 

life  in  Paris?  Yes,  but  here  are  five  thousand 
francs  squandered,  out  of  the  twenty-seven 
thousand,  and  before  setting  out  for  Geneva  I 
still  have  ten  thousand  to  pay:  three  thousand 
to  my  mother,  one  thousand  to  my  sister,  and 
six  thousand  in  judgments  and  costs. — 'Good 
gracious,  my  dear  man,  where  will  you  raise 
all  that?'— Out  of  my  ink-well!"* 

The  tone  of  the  correspondence  had  become 
more  tender  and  confidential,  mirroring  back 
an  intimate  picture  of  a  laborious  existence, 
laden  with  anxieties, — and  the  reason  is  that 
Balzac  now  knew  his  "Foreign  Lady,"  for  he 
had  met  her  at  Neufchatel,  whence  he  returned 
overflowing  with  enthusiasm.  From  the  date 
of  the  very  first  letters  he  had  received  his  im- 
agination had  taken  fire,  and  he  had  responded 
with  an  answering  ardour  to  this  woman  who 
had  so  ingenuously  laid  bare  her  heart  to  him. 
It  was  a  romantic  adventure  upon  which  he 
set  forth  rejoicing.  He  had  sent  to  the  fair 
unknown  a  lock  of  his  hair,  which  he  had  al- 
lowed to  remain  for  some  time  uncut,  in  order 

*  Letter  dated  October  31,  1833. 


160  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

to  send  one  as  long  as  possible;  he  had  presented 
her  with  a  perfumed  casket,  destined  to  be  the 
mysterious  receptacle  of  his  letters;  a  friend  had 
drawn  a  sketch  of  his  apartment  in  the  Rue 
Cassini,  so  that  she  might  see  what  a  pleasant 
little  den  the  toiler  had;  and  lastly  he  inserted 
in  a  copy  of  The  Country  Doctor  an  aquarelle, 
in  which  he  was  portrayed  in  the  somewhat  ex- 
aggerated guise  of  his  own  Doctor  Bernassis. 
This  was  a  sacrifice  to  which  he  consented  for 
love's  sake,  because  he  had  always  refused  to 
let  any  one,  even  Gerard,  paint  his  portrait,  in- 
sisting "that  he  was  not  handsome  enough  to  be 
worth  preserving  in  oil." 

But  letter-writing  and  delicate  attentions  in 
the  form  of  gifts  were  far  from  satisfying  him. 
He  wanted  to  see  her,  to  talk  with  her,  to  put 
into  speech  shades  of  feeling  so  delicate  that  the 
written  word  was  powerless  to  reproduce  them. 
And  presently  chance  aided  and  abetted  him. 
Mme.  Hanska  left  Wierzchownia  for  a  summer 
vacation  in  Switzerland,  and  Balzac,  on  the  trail 
of  one  of  those  business  opportunities  for  which 
he  was  ever  on  the  watch,  was  obliged  to  go  to 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  161 

Besangon  at  precisely  the  same  season.  His 
mission  related  to  the  manufacture  of  a  special 
kind  of  paper,  to  be  made  exclusively  for  his 
works,  and  which  he  imagined  would  speedily 
make  his  fortune.  Since  she  was  to  be  at  Neuf- 
chatel  and  he  at  Besangon,  how  could  they  re- 
sist the  pleasure  of  a  first  meeting?  Permission 
was  asked  to  call,  and  permission  was  granted  ; 
and  Balzac,  impatient  and  intoxicated  with 
hope,  left  Paris,  September  22d,  arrived  at 
Neufchatel  on  the  25th,  and  for  five  days  en- 
joyed profound  happiness,  tender  and  unal- 
loyed. They  met,  and  the  sentiments  born  of 
their  correspondence,  far  from  being  destroyed 
by  this  meeting,  were  on  the  contrary  exalted 
into  trembling  avowals,  transports  and  protes- 
tations of  eternal  love.  Balzac  returned  to 
Paris  radiant  with  his  new-found  joy.  He 
wrote  as  follows  to  his  sister  Laure,  the  habitual 
recipient  of  his  confidences: 

"I  found  down  yonder  all  that  is  needed  to 
flatter  the  thousand  vanities  of  that  animal 
known  as  man,  of  which  species  the  poet  still 
remains  the  vainest  variety.    But  why  do  I  use 


162  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  word  vanity?  No,  that  has  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  I  am  happy,  very  happy  in  thought, 
and  so  far  all  for  the  best  and  in  all  honour.  .  .  . 

"I  say  nothing  to  you  of  her  colossal  wealth ; 
of  what  consequence  is  that,  beside  a  perfection 
of  beauty  which  I  can  compare  to  no  one  except 
the  Princess  of  Belle joyeuse,  only  infinitely  bet- 
ter?" 

Mme.  Hanska  was  profoundly  religious  and  a 
practical  Catholic;  and  from  this  time  onward 
she  exerted  an  influence  over  the  trend  of  Bal- 
zac's thoughts.  Indeed,  he  brought  back  from 
their  first  interviews  the  germ  idea  of  his  mys- 
tical story,  Seraphita.  The  project  of  the  spe- 
cial paper  having  failed  to  materialise  at  Besan- 
gon,  he  tried  to  carry  it  out  through  the  media- 
tion of  Mme.  Carraud,  but  with  no  better  suc- 
cess. 

The  Country  Doctor  proved  a  source  of  noth- 
ing but  disappointments  to  Balzac,  who  received 
an  adverse  decision  from  the  courts,  in  the  law- 
suit brought  by  Mame,  because  he  had  failed  to 
furnish  copy  at  the  stipulated  dates,  and  found 
himself  facing  a  judgment  of  three  thousand 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  163 

francs  damages,  besides  another  thousand  francs 
for  corrections  made  at  his  expense.  The  cost 
of  the  latter  was,  for  that  matter,  always 
charged  to  him  by  his  publishers  in  all  his  con- 
tracts, because  his  method  of  work  raised  this 
item  to  an  unreasonable  sum.  For  one  of  his 
short  stories,  Pierrette,  Balzac  demanded  no  less 
than  seventeen  successive  revised  proofs.  And 
his  corrections,  his  additions  and  his  suppres- 
sions formed  such  an  inextricable  tangle  that 
the  typesetters  refused  to  work  more  than  an 
hour  at  a  time  over  his  copy. 

The  failure  of  the  work  on  which  he  had 
counted  so  much  and  the  loss  of  his  lawsuit  did 
not  discourage  him.  To  borrow  his  own  phrase, 
he  "buried  himself  in  the  most  frightful  la- 
bours." Between  the  end  of  1833  and  1834  he 
produced  Eugenie  Grandet,  The  Illustrious 
Gaudissart,  The  Girl  with  the  Golden  Eyes, 
and  The  Search  for  the  Absolute.  The  paper 
which  he  used  for  writing  was  a  large  octavo  in 
form,  with  a  parchment  finish.  His  manu- 
scripts often  bore  curious  annotations  and 
drawings.     On  the  cover  of  that  of  Eugenie 


164  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Grandet  he  had  drawn  a  ground  plan  of*  old 
Grandet's  house,  and  had  compiled  a  list  of 
names  from  which  he  chose  those  of  the  char- 
acters in  the  story.  Balzac  attached  an  extreme 
importance  to  proper  names,  and  he  did  not  de- 
cide which  to  give  to  his  heroes  until  after  long 
meditation,  for  he  believed  that  names  were 
significant,  even  to  the  extent  of  influencing 
their  destinies.  The  manuscript  of  The  Search 
for  the  Absolute  bears  witness  to  his  constant 
preoccupation  about  money.  He  had  inscribed 
on  it  the  following  account: 

Total  for  June    7,505  fcs. 

Total  for  July   1,500  fcs. 

Moating  debt  3,700  fcs. 

12,705  fcs. 

And  melancholically  he  wrote  below  it,  "Defi- 
cit, 1,705!"  His  writing  was  small,  compressed, 
irregular  and  often  far  from  easy  to  read ;  when 
he  suppressed  a  passage,  he  used  a  form  of  pot- 
hook erasure  which  rendered  the  condemned 
phrase  absolutely  illegible. 

In  1834,  Honore  de  Balzac,  while  still  keeping 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  165 

his  apartment  in  the  Rue  Cassini,  transferred 
his  residence  to  Chaillot,  No.  13,  Rue  des  Ba- 
tailles  (now  the  Avenue  dTena),  in  a  house  sit- 
uated on  the  site  of  the  hotel  of  Prince  Roland 
Bonaparte.  This  was  his  bachelor  quarters, 
where  he  received  his  letters,  under  the  name 
of  Madame  the  Widow  Durand.  He  had  by  no 
means  abandoned  his  projects  of  luxurious  sur- 
roundings, and  in  The  Girl  with  the  Golden 
Eyes  he  has  given  a  description  of  his  own  par- 
lour, which  shows  that  he  had  in  a  measure  al- 
ready realised  his  desires: 

"One-half  of  the  boudoir,"  he  wrote,  "de- 
scribed an  easy  and  graceful  semicircle,  while 
the  opposite  side  was  perfectly  square,  and  in 
the  centre  glistened  a  mantelpiece  of  white  mar- 
ble and  gold.  The  entrance  was  through  a  side 
door,  hidden  by  a  rich  portiere  of  tapestry,  and 
facing  a  window.  Within  the  horseshoe  curve 
was  a  genuine  Turkish  divan,  that  is  to  say,  a 
mattress  resting  directly  upon  the  floor,  a  mat- 
tress as  large  as  a  bed,  a  divan  fifty  feet  in  cir- 
cumference and  covered  with  white  cashmere, 
relieved  by  tufts  of  black  and  poppy-red  silk  ar- 


166  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ranged  in  a  diamond  pattern.  The  headboard 
of  this  immense  bed  rose  several  inches  above 
the  numerous  cushions  which  still  further  en- 
riched it  by  the  good  taste  of  their  harmonious 
tints.  The  walls  of  this  boudoir  were  covered 
with  red  cloth,  overlaid  with  India  muslin  fluted 
like  a  Corinthian  column,  the  flutings  being  al- 
ternately hollowed  and  rounded,  and  finished  at 
top  and  bottom  with  a  band  of  poppy-red  cloth 
embroidered  with  black  arabesques.  Seen 
through  the  muslin,  the  poppy-red  turned  to 
rose  colour,  the  colour  emblematic  of  love;  and 
the  same  effect  was  repeated  in  the  window  cur- 
tains, which  were  also  of  India  muslin  lined 
with  rose-coloured  taffeta  and  ornamented  with 
fringes  of  mixed  black  and  poppy-red.  Six  ver- 
milion sconces,  each  containing  two  candles, 
were  fixed  at  even  intervals  to  the  wall,  for  the 
purpose  of  lighting  the  divan.  The  ceiling, 
from  the  centre  of  which  hung  a  chandelier  of 
dull  vermilion,  was  a  dazzling  white,  and  the 
cornice  was  gilded.  The  carpet  resembled  an 
Oriental  shawl,  exhibiting  the  patterns  and  re- 
calling the  poetry  of  Persia,  the  laud  where  it 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  167 

had  been  woven  by  the  hands  of  slaves.  The 
furniture  was  all  upholstered  in  white  cashmere, 
emphasised  by  trimmings  of  the  same  combina- 
tion of  black  and  poppy-red.  The  clock,  the 
candle-sticks,  all  the  ornaments,  were  of  white 
marble  and  gold.  The  only  table  in  the  room 
had  a  cashmere  covering.  Graceful  jardinieres 
contained  roses  of  all  species  having  blossoms  of 
red  or  white." 

Theophile  Gautier  has  borne  witness  to  the 
accuracy  of  this  description;  but  as  though 
wishing  to  show  him  the  double  aspect  of  his 
life,  Balzac,  after  willingly  exhibiting  in  detail 
all  the  luxury  of  his  boudoir,  led  him  to  a  cor- 
ner recess,  necessitated  by  the  rounded  form  of 
one  side  of  the  room;  and  there,  hidden  behind 
the  ostentatious  decoration,  there  was  nothing 
but  a  narrow  iron  cot,  a  table  and  a  chair;  this 
was  where  he  worked. 

Balzac  disliked  being  disturbed  while  work- 
ing ;  and,  for  the  double  reason  of  avoiding  un- 
welcome visitors  and  throwing  his  creditors  off 
the  scent,  he  had  invented  a  whole  series  of 
pass-words,  which  it  was  necessary  to  know  be- 


168  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

fore  one  could  penetrate  to  his  apartment.  A 
visitor,  let  into  the  secret,  would  say  to  the 
porter,  "The  season  for  plums  has  arrived/' 
thanks  to  which  he  acquired  the  right  to  enter 
the  house.  But  this  was  only  the  first  degree 
of  initiation.  A  servant  would  next  come  for- 
ward and  ask,  "What  does  Monsieur  wish?" 
and  one  had  to  be  able  to  answer,  "I  have 
brought  some  Brussels  lace."  This  constituted 
the  second  degree  and  resulted  in  permission  to 
ascend  the  stairs.  Then,  with  the  door  of  the 
sanctuary  just  ajar,  the  visitor  could  not  hope  to 
see  it  swing  fully  open  before  him  until  he  had 
made  the  assertion  that  "Mme.  Durand  was  in 
good  health ! "  Whenever  Balzac  suspected  that 
his  pass-words  had  been  betrayed,  he  invented 
a  new  set,  which  he  communicated  only  to  those 
few  chosen  spirits  whom  he  cared  to  receive. 
And  this  method  of  protecting  himself  caused 
him,  when  with  his  friends,  to  indulge  in  great 
outbursts  of  his  vast,  resounding  laughter. 

In  spite  of  envy  and  conspiracies,  Balzac's 
reputation  was  now  established ;  he  had  become 
one  of  those  writers  who  are  widely  discussed 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  169 

and  whose  sayings  and  doings  are  a  current 
topic  of  conversation.  At  the  same  time,  he 
was  the  prey  of  the  low-class  journals,  which 
attacked  him  maliciously.  At  this  period,  Bal- 
zac was  passing  through  a  second  attack  of 
dandyism.  He  was  once  again  to  be  seen  at  the 
Opera,  at  the  Bouffes  and  at  the  fashionable 
salons.  He  sported  a  monstrous  walking  stick, 
the  handle  of  which  was  set  with  turquoises ;  he 
showed  himself  in  the  box  occupied  by  an  ul- 
tra-fashionable set  known  as  the.  "Tigers," 
wearing  a  blue  coat,  adorned  with  golden  but- 
tons, "buttons,"  he  said,  "wrought  by  the  hand 
of  a  fairy";  and  he  had  a  "divine  lorgnette," 
which  had  been  made  for  him  by  the  optician 
of  the  Observatory.  He  began  to  be  laughed 
at;  and,  gossip  taking  a  hand,  his  glorious  lux- 
ury was  attributed  to  the  generosity  of  an  el- 
derly Englishwoman,  Lady  Arielsy,  whose 
lucky  favourite  he  was  supposed  to  be.  His 
walking  stick  especially — a  stick  that,  in  his 
estimation,  was  worthy  of  Louis  XIV — excited 
curiosity.  It  was  ridiculed,  decried  and  ad- 
mired.     Mme.    de    Girardin    wrote    a    novel 


170  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

around  it,  Monsieur  de  Balzac's  Walking  Stick, 
in  which  she  attributed  to  it  the  power  of  ren- 
dering invisible  whoever  held  it  in  his  left 
hand.' 

He  had  a  carriage  adorned  with  his  mono- 
gram, surmounted  by  the  arms  of  the  d'En- 
tragues;  he  frequented  the  salons  of  the  Roth- 
schilds, and  of  Mme.  Appony,  the  wife  of  the 
Austrian  ambassador;  ke  gave  magnificent  din- 
ners to  Lautour-Mezeray,  to  Sandeau,  to  No- 
dier,  to  Malitourne  and  to  Rossini,  who  declared 
that  he  had  "never  seen,  eaten  or  drunken  any- 
thing better,  even  at  the  tables  of  kings." 

Then,  suddenly,  Balzac  returned  to  the  fierce 
heat  of  production;  he  abandoned  his  friends 
and  acquaintances,  and  became  invisible  for 
months  at  a  time,  buried  in  his  hiding-place  at 
Chaillot,  or  else  taking  refuge  at  the  home  of 
M.  de  Margonne  at  Sache,  or  of  Mme.  Carraud 
at  Frapesle.  And  when  he  reappeared,  it  was 
with  his  hands  laden  with  masterpieces,  his  eye 
more  commanding  and  his  brow  held  high  with 
noble  pride.  With  a  speed  of  production  that 
no  one  has  ever  equalled  he  turned  forth,  one 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  171 

after  another,  his  great  novels,  Old  Goriot,  The 
Lily  in  the  Valley,  Seraphita,  The  Atheist's 
Mass,  The  Interdiction,  The  Cabinet  of  An- 
tiques, Facino  Cane,  and  he  revised,  corrected 
and  remodelled  a  part  of  his  earlier  works  into 
the  Philosophic  Studies  which  he  brought  out 
through  Werdet,  and  his  Studies  of  Manners, 
published  by  Mme.  Bechet.  His  plan  had 
grown  still  larger,  the  formidable  creation  with 
which  his  brain  was  teeming  was  taking  organic 
shape,  and  he  now  perceived  the  architecture  of 
his  vast  monument.  He  expounded  it  to  Mme. 
Hanska,  with  justifiable  pride: 

"I  believe  that  by  1838  the  three  divisions  of 
this  gigantic  work  will  be,  if  not  completed,  at 
least  superposed,  so  that  it  will  be  possible  to 
judge  of  the  mass  of  the  structure. 

"The  Studies  of  Manners  are  intended  to  rep- 
resent all  social  effects  so  completely  that  no 
situation  in  life,  no  physiognomy,  no  character 
of  man  or  woman,  no  manner  of  living,  no  pro- 
fession, no  social  zone,  no  section  of  France, 
nor  anything  whatever  relating  to  childhood, 


172  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

maturity  or  old  age,  to  politics,  justice  or  war, 
shall  be  forgotten. 

"This  being  determined,  the  history  of  the 
human  heart  traced  thread  by  thread,  and  the 
history  of  society  recorded  in  all  its  parts,  we 
have  the  foundation.  There  will  be  no  imagi- 
nary incidents  in  it;  it  will  consist  solely  of 
what  is  happening  everywhere. 

"Then  comes  the  second  story  of  my  struc- 
ture, the  Philosophic  Studies,  for  after  the  ef- 
fects we  shall  examine  the  causes.  In  the 
Studies  of  Manners  I  shall  already  have  painted 
for  you  the  play  of  the  emotions  and  the  move- 
ment of  life.  In  the  Philosophic  Studies  I  shall 
expound  the  why  of  the  emotions  and  the 
wherefore  of  life;  what  is  the  range  and  what 
are  the  conditions  outside  of  which  neither  so- 
ciety nor  man  can  exist;  and,  after  having  sur- 
veyed society  in  order  to  describe  it,  I  shall 
survey  it  again  in  order  to  judge  it.  Accord- 
ingly the  Studies  of  Manners  contain  typical 
individuals,  while  the  Philosophic  Studies  con- 
tain individualised  types.  Thus  on  all  sides  I 
shall  have  created  life :  for  the  type  by  individ- 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  173 

ualising  it,  and  for  the  individual  by  converting 
him  into  a  type.  I  shall  endow  the  fragment 
with  thought,  and  I  shall  have  endowed  thought 
with  individual  life. 

"Then,  after  the  effects  and  causes,  will  come 
the  Analytic  Studies,  of  which  the  Physiology 
of  Marriage  will  form  part:  for  after  the  ef- 
fects and  causes,  the  next  thing  to  be  sought  is 
the  principles.  The  manners  are  the  perfor- 
mance, the  causes  are  the  stage  setting  and 
properties,  and  the  principles  are  the  author; 
but  in  proportion  as  my  work  circles  higher  and 
higher  into  the  realms  of  thought,  it  narrows 
and  condenses.  If  it  requires  twenty-four  vol- 
umes for  the  Studies  of  Manners,  it  will  not  re- 
quire more  than  fifteen  for  the  Philosophic 
Studies,  and  it  will  not  require  more  than  nine 
for  the  Analytic  Studies.  In  this  way,  man, 
society  and  humanity  will  have  been  described, 
judged  and  analysed,  without  repetition,  result- 
ing in  a  work  which  will  stand  as  the  Thousand 
and  One  Nights  of  the  Occident. 

"When  the  whole  is  completed,  my  edifice 
achieved,  my  pediment  sculptured,  my  scaffold- 


174  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ing  cleared  away,  my  final  touches  given,  it  will 
be  proved  that  I  was  either  right  or  wrong.  But 
after  having  been  a  poet,  after  having  demon- 
strated an  entire  social  system,  I  shall  revert  to 
science  in  an  Essay  on  the  Human  Powers. 
And  around  the  base  of  my  palatial  structure, 
with  boyish  glee  I  shall  trace  the  immense  ara- 
besque of  my  Hundred  Droll  Tales." 

Think  of  the  courage  that  it  needed  not  to 
recoil  before  this  superhuman  task,  planned 
with  such  amplitude  and  precision!  Yet,  aside 
from  a  few  rare  days  of  discouragement,  Balzac 
did  not  feel  that  it  was  beyond  his  powers. 
After  each  brief  period  of  weakening,  his  op- 
timism always  reappeared,  and,  having  indi- 
cated his  goal,  he  concluded :  "Some  day  when 
I  have  finished,  we  can  have  a  good  laugh.  But 
today  I  must  work." 

Accordingly  he  worked,  not  only  "today," 
but  every  day,  in  the  midst  of  the  material  un- 
certainty created  by  his  accumulated  debts,  his 
lawsuits,  and  his  need  of  luxury ;  and  his  method 
of  work  was  to  retire  at  six  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, rise  at  two  in  the  morning,  and  remain 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  175 

sometimes  more  than  sixteen  hours  before  his 
table,  wrestling  with  his  task. 

Nevertheless  he  was  able  to  escape  in  May, 
1835,  for  a  trip  to  Vienna  to  see  Mme.  Hanska, 
enjoy  a  fortnight  of  happiness,  and  return  to 
Paris  with  his  heart  in  holiday  mood.  His  good 
humour  never  deserted  him.  He  related  how, 
lacking  any  knowledge  of  German,  he  devised  a 
way  of  paying  his  postilion.  At  each  relay  he 
summoned  him  to  the  door  of  the  carriage  and, 
looking  him  fixedly  in  the  eye,  dropped  kreutz- 
ers  into  his  hands  one  by  one,  and  when  he  saw 
the  postilion  smile  he  withdrew  the  last 
kreutzer,  knowing  that  he  had  been  amply  paid! 

Returning  to  Paris  by  the  eleventh  of  June, 
Balzac  found  nothing  but  a  new  crop  of  sor- 
rows and  anxieties  awaiting  him,  together  with 
"three  or  four  months  of  hard  labour"  in  per- 
spective. His  publisher,  Werdet,  had  not  been 
able  to  meet  his  payments,  and  his  sister  Laure 
had  been  obliged  to  pawn  all  her  brother's  silver 
at  the  Mont-de-Piete,  in  order  to  save  the  notes 
from  being  protested.  On  the  other  hand,  his 
mother  was  seriously  ill;  it  was  feared  the  re- 


176  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

suit  would  be  either  death  or  insanity,  and  his 
brother  Henri  had  reached  a  state  in  which  he 
was  on  the  point  of  blowing  out  his  brains. 
Family  sorrows,  money  troubles,  such  was  per- 
petually his  fate !  and  accordingly  he  redoubled 
his  courage.  He  had  been  working  not  more 
than  sixteen  hours  consecutively,  but  now  he 
worked  for  twenty-four  at  a  stretch,  and  after 
five  hours'  sleep  began  again  this  new  schedule 
which  practically  meant  an  average  of  twenty- 
one  and  one-half  working  hours  per  day.  He 
would  be  able  to  earn  eight  thousand  francs, 
but  in  order  to  do  so  he  must  deliver  within 
forty  days  the  last  chapters  of  Seraphita  and  the 
Young  Brides  to  the  Revue  de  Paris,  the  Lily 
in  the  Valley  to  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes, 
and  an  article  for  the  Conservateur,  all  of  which 
was  equivalent  to  writing  four  hundred  and 
forty-eight  pages. 

And  still  this  did  not  satisfy  him!  His  am- 
bition pushed  him  once  again  towards  his  earlier 
political  designs.  He  counted  upon  the  support 
of  the  reviews  for  which  he  was  writing,  he 
planned  to  found  two  newspapers,  and  dreamed 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  177 

of  creating  a  party  composed  of  the  intellectual 
element,  of  which  he  would  naturally  be  the 
leader.  It  was  in  this  spirit  that,  during  the 
last  months  of  1835,  he  acquired  the  Chronique 
de  Paris,  of  which  he  became  the  director.  To 
this  weekly  periodical,  which  henceforth  ap- 
peared twice  a  week,  Balzac  summoned  a  bril- 
liant editorial  staff — he  always  disdained  to  su- 
pervise any  other  than  shining  lights — includ- 
ing Gustave  Planche,  Nodier,  Theophile  Gau- 
tier,  Charles  de  Bernard,  while  the  illustrations 
were  furnished  by  Gavarni  and  Daumier.  Since 
he  already  aspired  to  a  foreign  ministry  or  am- 
bassadorship, he  reserved  the  department  of 
foreign  affairs  for  himself,  and  for  more  than  a 
year  he  treated  of  European  diplomacy  with 
extraordinary  penetration  and  accuracy.  He 
made  prodigious  efforts  to  keep  his  review  on  its 
feet,  but  in  spite  of  his  activity  and  the  talent 
of  his  collaborators,  the  Chronique  exerted  little 
or  no  influence,  and  remained  very  poor  in  sub- 
scribers. 

While  he  was  still  editing  it  he  once  more  un- 
derwent the  singular  and  vexatious  experience 


178  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

of  being  imprisoned.  Although  a  good  citizen, 
he  energetically  refused  to  fulfill  his  duties  in 
the  national  guard,  which  he  deemed  unbefit- 
ting the  dignity  of  an  artist  and  author.  In 
March,  1835,  he  had  already  been  detained  for 
seven  days  in  the  Hotel  Bazancourt;  so  in  order 
to  avoid  a  similar  annoyance  in  the  future  he 
hired  his  apartment  under  another  name  than 
his  own.  But  his  sergeant-major,  a  dentist  by 
profession  and  a  man  of  resource,  succeeded  in 
capturing  him  and  landing  him  safely  in  the 
"Hotel  des  Haricots."  *  He  was  locked  up 
without  a  penny  in  his  pocket,  and  in  order  to 
soften  the  rigours  of  his  captivity  must  needs 
appeal  for  help  to  his  publisher,  Werdet.  His 
hardships,  however,  proved  to  be  tolerably  mild 
when  once  he  was  supplied  with  money.  In 
the  prison  he  met  Eugene  Sue,  who  was  de- 
tained for  the  same  cause,  and  who  carried  the 
thing  off  in  lordly  fashion,  having  sumptuous 
repasts  brought  to  him  on  his  own  silver  service. 
Owing  to  this  attitude  there  was  a  certain  cold- 

*Popular  nickname  for  the  debtors7  prison.     (Translator's 
Note.) 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  179 

ness  at  first  between  the  two  novelists,  but  be- 
fore long  they  joined  forces  in  order  to  enliven 
their  days  of  imprisonment.  Eugene  Sue  could 
draw,  and  he  made  a  pen-and-ink  sketch  of  a 
horse,  a  horseman  and  a  stretch  of  seashore, 
which  Balzac  inscribed  as  follows:  "Drawn  in 
prison  in  the  Hotel  Bazancourt,  where  we  were 
under  punishment  for  not  having  mounted 
guard,  in  accordance  with  the  decree  of  the 
grocers  of  Paris." 

A  still  harsher  prison,  that  of  Clichy,  very 
nearly  fell  to  Balzac's  lot,  a  few  months  later. 
His  efforts  to  carry  on  the  Chronique  had  been 
in  vain,  and  he  had  been  obliged  to  abandon  it, 
toward  the  middle  of  1837,  with  a  fresh  accumu- 
lation of  debts.  One  of  his  creditors,  William 
Duckett,  pressed  him  so  vigorously  for  a  sum  of 
ten  thousand  francs  that  Balzac  was  forced  to 
go  into  hiding,  and  the  process-servers  were  un- 
able to  discover  him.  A  woman  finally  be- 
trayed his  retreat,  and  one  morning  the  officers 
of  the  law  presented  themselves  at  the  home  of 
Mme.  de  Visconti,  the  lady  who  had  given  him 
asylum.    Balzac  was  caught,  but  not  taken,  for 


180  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  generous  woman  promptly  paid  the  debt  de- 
manded of  him. 

Once  again  he  had  been  saved,  but  now  all 
his  creditors  were  at  his  heels,  and  he  was  like 
a  hare  before  them,  never  sure  where  he  could 
lay  his  head.  In  order  to  satisfy  them  he  added 
toil  to  toil,  story  to  story,  notwithstanding  the 
sorrow  caused  him  by  the  loss  of  Mme.de  Berny, 
that  early  love  who  had  protected  his  youth 
and  sustained  his  courage,  with  an  unwavering 
devotion,  a  heart  of  wife  and  mother  in  one. 
His  troubles  were  now  constant,  and  he  was 
forced  to  carry  on  a  famous  litigation  with 
Buloz,  director  of  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes, 
who  had  forwarded  to  the  Revue  fitrangere  of 
St.  Petersburg  uncorrected  proofs  of  The  Lily 
in  the  Valley.  In  defending  himself  he  was 
defending  the  common  rights  of  all  authors. 

Theophile  Gautier,  whom  he  had  invited  to 
collaborate  on  the  Chronique  de  Paris  at  a  time 
when  the  author  of  Mademoiselle  de  Maupin 
was  but  little  known,  has  left  some  vivid  recol- 
lections of  Balzac  at  this  period: 

"It  was,"  he  writes,  "in  that  same  boudoir 


BALZAC  IN  CARACATURE 

Above:  The  high  road  to  Posterity,  by  Benjamin  Roubaud,  including 

Victor  Hugo,  Theophile  Gautier,  F.  Weill,  Eugene  Sue,  A.  Dumas, 

F.   Soulie,   Balzac,   A.   de  Vigny,   Gozlan,   C.   Delavigne.     Below: 

Balzac,  by  Etienne  Carjat  and  by  Benjamin. 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  181 

(the  luxurious  chamber  in  the  Rue  des  Ba- 
tailles)  that  he  gave  us  a  splendid  dinner,  on 
which  occasion  he  lighted  with  his  own  hands 
all  the  candles  in  the  vermilion  sconces  as  well 
as  those  in  the  chandelier  and  candlesticks. 
The  guests  were  the  Marquis  de  B.  .  .  (de 
Belloy)  and  the  artist  L.  B.  (Louis  Boulanger). 
Although  quite  sober  and  abstemious  by  habit, 
Balzac  did  not  disdain  on  occasion  the  festive 
board  and  flowing  bowl;  he  ate  with  a  whole- 
hearted satisfaction  that  was  appetising  to  see, 
and  he  drank  in  true  Pantagruelian  fashion. 
Four  bottles  of  the  white  wine  of  Vouvray,  one 
of  the  headiest  wines  known,  in  no  way  affected 
his  strong  brain,  and  produced  no  other  result 
than  to  add  a  slightly  keener  sparkle  to  his 
gaiety. 

"Characteristic  touch!  At  this  splendid 
feast,  furnished  by  Chevot,  there  was  no  bread. 
But  when  one  has  all  the  superfluities,  of  what 
use  are  the  necessities?" 

Balzac,  who  ordinarily  ate  quite  soberly,  con- 
sumed an  enormous  quantity  of  fruit,  pears, 
strawberries  and  grapes.     He  held  that  they 


182  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

were  good  for  his  health,  and  that  they  suited 
his  temperament,  overheated  as  it  was  by  his 
abuse  of  coffee  and  his  sleepless  nights.  Alco- 
hol did  not  agree  with  him,  and  as  to  tobacco, 
he  detested  it  to  such  a  degree  that  he  refused 
to  employ  servants  who  had  the  habit  of  smok- 
ing. 

His  intellectual  conceptions  intermingled 
with  the  current  events  of  life,  and  he  drew  no 
very  clear  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
characters  and  adventures  which  he  created 
and  the  actualities  of  life.  The  History  of  the 
Thirteen  and  the  exploits  of  the  association  of 
which  Ferragus  was  chief  gave  Balzac  the  idea 
of  forming  a  secret  society,  after  the  manner  of 
the  one  he  had  conceived,  the  members  of  which 
were  to  afford  one  another  aid  and  protection 
under  all  circumstances.  This  society  he  called 
the  Red  Horse,  from  the  name  of  the  restau- 
rant where  the  charter  members  met.  They 
were  Theophile  Gautier,  Leon  Gozlan,  Alphonse 
Karr,  Louis  Desnoyers,  Eugene  Guinot,  Al- 
taroche,  Merle,  and  Granier  de  Cassagnac,  all 
of  whom  swore  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  enthu- 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  183 

siastically  named  Balzac  Grand  Master  of  the 
new  order.  The  place  of  meeting  was  changed 
each  week,  in  order  not  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  waiters  who  served  the  "Horses," — 
cabalistic  name  of  the  conspirators, — and  their 
secret  had  to  be  carefully  guarded,  for  it  was 
nothing  less  than  a  project  for  distributing 
among  the  members  of  the  Red  Horse  the  chief 
offices  of  State,  the  ministries  and  ambassa- 
dorships, the  highest  positions  in  arts  and  let- 
ters, the  Academie  Frangaise  and  the  Institut. 
These  secret  reunions  ceased  after  a  few  months, 
for  there  was  no  more  corn  in  the  crib, — in 
other  words,  a  majority  of  the  "Horses"  were 
unable  to  pay  their  dues. 

Did  these  chimerical  dreams  serve  to  distract 
Balzac's  thoughts  from  the  realities,  or  did  he 
believe  that  he  possessed  some  occult  means  of 
dominating  society?  Perhaps  it  was  something 
of  both.  His  material  situation  had  become 
worse.  Werdet  succumbed  under  the  weight 
of  his  publications,  dragging  down  his  favourite 
author  in  his  ruin.  Balzac  had  hours  of  heavy 
depression;  he  went  for  a  rest  to  Mme.  Car- 


184  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

raud's  home  at  Frapesle,  and  after  his  return  to 
Paris  he  wrote  her  in  the  following  strain : 

"I  am  horribly  embarrassed  for  money.  By 
tomorrow  I  may  not  have  a  care  in  the  world, 
if  the  matters  that  I  have  in  hand  turn  out 
well;  but  then  again  it  is  quite  possible  that  I 
may  perish.  It  is  quite  dramatic  to  be  al- 
ways hovering  between  life  and  death ;  it  is  the 
life  of  a  corsair;  but  human  endurance  cannot 
keep  it  up  forever." 

He  sought  for  new  publishers;  then,  having 
passed  through  the  crisis  of  humility,  he 
straightened  up  once  more,  his  courage  was 
born  again,  and  he  undertook  a  very  mysterious 
journey  the  goal  of  which  he  revealed  to  no  one, 
aside  from  Commander  Carraud,  whom  he  had 
let  into  his  secret.  He  announced  only  that  if 
he  succeeded  it  would  mean  a  fortune  for  him 
and  all  his  family.  Balzac  borrowed  five  hun- 
dred francs  and  left  Paris  in  March,  1836,  ar- 
riving on  the  20th  in  Marseilles,  and  on  the 
26th  in  Ajaccio,  where,  his  incognito  having 
been  betrayed  by  a  former  fellow  student,  he 
was  royally  entertained  by  the  younger  genera- 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  185 

tion;  and  on  April  1st  he  set  out  for  Sardinia 
in  a  small  sloop  propelled  by  oars.  What  was 
the  object  of  this  journey?  During  a  stay  in 
Genoa  in  1837  a  merchant  of  that  city  had 
told  him  that  whole  mountains  of  slag  existed 
near  the  silver  mines  which  the  Romans  had 
worked  in  Sardinia.  This  information  had  set 
Balzac's  spirit  of  deduction  to  working,  and, 
assuming  that  the  ancients  were  very  ignorant 
in  the  art  of  reducing  ores  and  had  probably 
abandoned  enormous  quantities  of  silver  in  the 
slag,  had  asked  his  Genoese  friend  to  send  him 
some  specimens  to  Paris. 

Landing  at  Alghiero,  he  explored  Sardinia, 
saw  the  mountains  of  slag  and,  returning  to 
Genoa  on  the  22d,  had  the  discomfiture  of 
learning  that  his  Genoese  friend,  instead  of 
sending  him  the  requested  specimens,  had 
adopted  the  idea  himself  and  had  bbtained  from 
the  court  of  Turin  the  right  to  develop  the 
project  in  conjunction  with  a  firm  in  Marseilles 
which  had  assayed  the  ore.  All  Balzac's  hopes 
of  making  his  fortune  once  more  crumbled  to 
pieces;  yet  he  refused  to  succumb,  but,  at  the 


186  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

same  time  that  he  wrote  the  bad  news  to 
Laure,  announced  that  he  had  hit  upon  some- 
thing better!  Such  was  his  unconquerable  op- 
timism. He  returned  by  way  of  Milan,  where 
he  remained  several  weeks,  attending  to  some 
business  matters  for  the  Visconti  family,  and, 
far  from  his  "phrase-shop,"  he  indulged  in  bit- 
ter reflections.  At  the  age  of  thirty-nine  his 
debts  amounted  to  two  hundred  thousand 
francs,  he  had  resorted  to  every  means  to  clear 
himself,  and,  weary  of  so  many  useless  efforts, 
he  ceased  to  look  forward  to  a  day  of  liber- 
ation. 

But  he  missed  his  routine  of  exhausting  la- 
bour, he  sighed  for  his  table,  his  candles,  his 
white  paper;  he  wanted  to  get  back  to  his  fe- 
verish nights,  his  days  of  meditation,  in  his  se- 
cluded and  silent  workroom  where,  better  than 
anywhere  else,  all  his  heroic  personages  quiv- 
ered into  being,  and  he  beheld  all  the  various 
lives  of  his  creation  with  a  bitter,  almost  ter- 
rible joy.  He  returned  to  Paris  during  the  first 
half  of  June,  lamenting:  "My  head  refuses  to 
do  any  intellectual  work;  I  feel  that  it  is  full 


THE  "FOREIGN  LADY"  187 

of  ideas,  yet  it  is  impossible  to  get  them  out; 
I  am  incapable  of  concentrating  my  thoughts, 
of  compelling  them  to  consider  a  subject  from 
all  its  sides  and  then  determine  its  develop- 
ment. I  do  not  know  when  this  imbecile  con- 
dition will  pass  off,  perhaps  it  is  only  that  I  am 
out  of  practice.  When  a  workman  has  left  his 
tools  behind  him  for  a  time  his  hand  becomes 
clumsy;  it  has,  so  to  speak,  undergone  a  di- 
vorce from  them;  he  must  needs  begin  again 
little  by  little  to  establish  that  fraternity  due  to 
habit  and  which  binds  the  hand  to  the  imple- 
ment and  the  implement  to  the  hand."  But 
his  discouragement  did  not  last  long,  for  he 
soon  has  his  implement  in  hand  again,  with  a 
stronger  grip  on  it  than  ever/ 


CHAPTER  VIII 

AT    LES    JARDIES 

T  T  was  in  1835  that  Balzac  conceived  the  idea 
of  acquiring  some  land,  situated  between 
Sevres  and  Ville-d'Avray,  for  the  purpose  of 
building  a  house.  He  wished  in  this  way  to 
give  a  guarantee  to  his  mother,  evade  compul- 
sory service  in  the  National  Guard,  and  become 
a  landed  proprietor.  He  had  explored  all  the 
suburbs  of  Paris  before  deciding  upon  a  hill- 
side with  a  steep  slope,  as  ill  adapted  to  build- 
ing as  to  cultivation.  But,  having  definitely 
made  his  choice,  he  acquired  sections  from  the 
adjacent  holdings  of  three  peasants,  thus  ob- 
taining a  lot  forty  square  rods  in  extent,  to 
which  he  naturally  hoped  to  add  later  on.  He 
calculated  that  he  would  not  have  to  spend 
more  than  twenty-five  thousand  francs,  which 
he  could  borrow, — in  point  of  fact,  the  total 
cost  came  to  more  than  ninety  thousand, — and 

188 


AT  LES  JARDIES  189 

that  the  interest  to  be  paid  would  not  come  to 
more  than  the  rent  he  was  then  paying  for  his 
apartment.  The  first  step  was  to  surround  his 
property  with  walls,  and  Balzac  then  christened 
it  with  the  name  of  Les  Jardies.  He  laughed 
with  sheer  contentment,  foreseeing  himself  in 
his  mind's  eye  already  installed  in  his  own 
abode,  far  from  Paris  and  yet  near  to  it,  and 
beyond  the  reach  of  importunate  visitors  and 
the  curiosity  of  cheap  journalism.  Neverthe- 
less, Les  Jardies  cost  him  as  much  sarcasm  and 
ridicule  as  his  monstrous  walking-stick  set  with 
turquoises.  He  had  given  his  own  plans  to  his 
architects,  and  he  himself  attentively  superin- 
tended his  contractors  and  masons.  He  experi- 
enced all  the  annoyances  incident  to  construc- 
tion, delays  in  the  work,  disputes  with  the 
workmen,  the  worry  of  raising  money  and  meet- 
ing payments,  and  the  impossibility  of  obtain- 
ing exactly  what  he  wished.  He  was  impatient 
to  take  possession  of  his  own  home,  but  the 
completion  of  it  was  delayed  from  month  to 
month;  it  was  to  have  been  ready  for  occu- 
pancy by  November  30,  1837,  yet  on  his  return 


190  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

from  Sardinia  in  June,  1838,  it  was  not  yet 
finished.  But  he  was  so  eager  to  move  in  that 
in  defiance  of  his  physician's  orders  he  installed 
himself  in  August,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  con- 
fusion and  with  the  workmen  still  all  around 
him.  It  was  a  dreadful  condition  of  things, 
the  upturned  ground,  the  empty  chambers,  the 
chill  of  new  plaster,  and  an  irritating  sense  of 
things  not  finished  and  pushed  along  in  haste; 
but  he  was  exultant,  and  distracted  his  own 
attention  by  admiring  the  beauty  of  the  sur- 
rounding landscape. 

How  delightful  it  was  to  live  at  Les  Jar  dies! 
It  required  not  more  than  ten  minutes  to  reach 
the  heart  of  Paris,  the  Madeleine,  and  it  cost 
but  ten  sous.  The  Rue  des  Batailles  and  the 
Rue  Cassini  were  at  the  other  end  of  the  world, 
and  you  must  needs  spend  a  couple  of  francs 
for  the  shortest  drive  which  wasted  an  hour, — 
such  was  the  fashion  in  which  Balzac  dreamed ! 
And  he  would  gaze  at  his  acre  of  ground,  bare, 
ploughed-up  clay,  without  a  tree  or  a  blade  of 
grass,  and  he  found  no  trouble  in  transforming 
it  mentally  into  an  eden  of  "plants,  fragrance 


AT  LES  JARDIES  191 

and  shrubbery."  He  planned  to  fill  it  with 
twenty-year  magnolias,  sixteen-year  lindens, 
twelve-year  poplars,  birches  and  grape  vines 
which  would  yield  him  fine  white  grapes  the 
very  next  year.  And  then  he  would  earn  thirty 
thousand  francs  and  buy  two  more  acres  of 
land,  which  he  would  turn  into  an  orchard  and 
kitchen-garden. 

The  house  which  was  the  object  of  so  many 
witticisms  was  a  small  three-storied  structure, 
containing  on  the  ground  floor  a  dining-room 
and  parlour,  on  the  next  a  bed-chamber  and 
dressing-room,  and  on  the  upper  floor  Balzac's 
working-room.  A  balcony  supported  by  brick 
pillars  completely  surrounded  the  second 
story,  and  the  staircase — the  famous  staircase 
— ascended  on  the  outside  of  the  house.  The 
whole  was  painted  brick  colour,  excepting  the 
corners,  which  had  stone  trimmings. 

Behind  the  house  itself,  at  a  distance  of  some 
sixty  feet,  were  the  outhouses,  including,  on 
the  ground  floor,  the  kitchen,  pantry,  bathroom, 
stables,  carriage-house  and  harness-room;  on 
the  floor  above  an  apartment  to  let,  and  on 


192  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  top  floor  the  servants'  quarters  and  a  guest 
chamber.  Furthermore,  Balzac  had  a  spring 
of  water  on  his  own  grounds! 

For  months  all  Paris  talked  of  the  staircase 
at  Les  Jardies  which  Balzac,  great  architect 
that  he  was,  had  forgotten  to  put  into  the  plans 
for  his  house.  Under  the  caption,  "Literary 
Indiscretions,"  the  following  humorous  note  ap- 
peared in  La  Caricature  Provisoire: 

"M.  de  Balzac,  after  having  successively  in- 
habited the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  and  the 
twelve  wards  of  Paris,  seems  to  have  definitely 
transferred  his  domicile  to  the  midst  of  an  iso- 
lated plain,  in  the  outskirts  of  Ville-d'Avray; 
he  occupies  a  house  which  he  has  had  built 
there  for  his  own  particular  accommodation  by 
a  direct  descendant  of  the  marvellous  architect 
to  whom  the  world  owes  the  cathedral  of 
Cologne.  This  house,  in  which  no  doors  or 
windows  are  -to  be  found,  and  which  is  entered 
through  a  square  hole  cut  in  the  roof,  is  fur- 
nished throughout  with  an  oriental  luxury  of 
which  even  the  pashas  themselves  would  be 
incapable  of  forming  an  idea.    The  great  novel- 


AT  LES  JARDIES  193 

ist's  private  study  has  a  floor  inlaid  with  young 
girls'  teeth  and  hung  with  superb  cashmere  rugs 
that  have  been  sent  him  by  all  the  crowned 
heads  of  the  universe.  As  to  the  furniture,  the 
chairs,  sofas  and  divans,  they  are  one  and  all 
stuffed  with  women's  hair,  both  blonde  and 
brunette,  sent  to  the  author  of  La  Grenadiere 
by  a  number  of  women  of  thirty  who  did  not 
hesitate  a  minute  to  despoil  themselves  of  their 
most  beautiful  adornment, — a  sacrifice  all  the 
more  rare  since  they  have  passed  the  age  at 
which  the  hair  would  grow  again !" 

Balzac  removed  to  Les  Jardies  as  soon  as  the 
walls  of  the  dwelling  had  been  raised  and  the 
floorings  laid,  and  he  lived  there  before  there 
was  a  piece  of  furniture  in  any  of  the  rooms, 
aside  from  the  few  indispensable  things.  Leon 
Gozlan  has  amusingly  related  the  manner  in 
which  the  novelist  supplied  their  lack  by  an 
effort  of  imagination.  He  wrote  on  the  walls 
with  charcoal  what  he  intended  the  interior 
decoration  of  his  house  to  be:  "Here  a  wains- 
coting  of  Parian  marble;  here  a  stylobate  of 
cedar  wood;  here  a  ceiling  painted  by  Eugene 


194  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Delacroix;  here  an  Aubusson  tapestry;  here  a 
mantelpiece  of  cipolino  marble;  here  doors  on 
the  Trianon  model;  here  an  inlaid  floor  oj  rare 
tropical  woods." 

Leon  Gozlan  says  that  "Balzac  did  not  re- 
sent pleasantries  at  the  expense  of  these  imag- 
inary furnishings,"  and  he  adds,  "he  laughed  as 
heartily  as  I,  if  not  more  so,  the  day  when  I 
wrote,  in  characters  larger  than  his  own,  on  the 
wall  of  his  bed-chamber,  which  was  as  empty  as 
any  of  the  others: 

"'HERE  A  PAINTING  BY  RAPHAEL, 
BEYOND  ALL  PRICE,  AND  THE  LIKE 
OF  WHICH  HAS  NEVER  BEEN  SEEN/  " 

Balzac  laughed,  but  Gozlan  did  not  under- 
stand that  he  found  more  pleasure  in  desiring 
things  than  in  actually  possessing  them,  for  in 
the  former  case  he  was  limited  only  by  the  ex- 
tent of  his  own  desires,  which  were  almost  in- 
finite. 

Among  the  various  speculative  schemes  which 
Balzac  dreamed  of,  in  connection  with  Les 
Jardies,  and  which  were  to  make  his  fortune, — 


AT  LES  JARDIES  195 

a  dairy,  vineyards  which  were  to  produce  Ma- 
laga and  Tokay  wine,  the  creation  of  a  village, 
etc., — particular  mention  should  be  made  of  his 
plans  for  the  cultivation  of  pineapples,  which 
we  have  upon  the  authority  of  Theophile  Gau- 
tier: 

"Here  was  the  project,"  he  tells  us,  "a  hun- 
dred thousand  square  feet  of  pineapples  were 
to  be  planted  in  the  grounds  of  Les  Jardies, 
metamorphosed  into  hothouses  which  would 
require  only  a  moderate  amount  of  heating, 
thanks  to  the  natural  warmth  of  the  situation. 
The  pineapples  were  expected  to  sell  at  five 
francs  each,  instead  of  a  louis  (twenty  francs), 
which  was  the  ordinary  price;  in  other  words, 
five  hundred  thousand  francs  for  the  season's 
crop;  from  this  amount  a  hundred  thousand 
francs  would  have  to  be  deducted  for  the  cost 
of  cultivation,  the  glass  frames,  and  the  coal; 
accordingly,  there  would  remain  a  net  profit  of 
four  hundred  thousand,  which  would  constitute 
a  splendid  income  for  the  happy  possessor, — 
'without  having  to  turn  out  a  page  of  copy/  he 
used  to  say.    This  was  nothing;  Balzac  had  a 


196  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

thousand  projects  of  the  same  sort;  but  the 
beautiful  thing  about  this  one  was  that  we  wenj 
together  to  the  Boulevard  Montmartre  to  look 
for  a  shop  in  which  to  sell  these  pineapples 
that  were  not  yet  even  planted.  The  shop  was 
to  be  painted  black,  with  gold  trimmings,  and 
there  was  to  be  a  sign  proclaiming  in  enormous 
letters:  PINEAPPLES  FROM  LES  JAR- 
DIES. 

"However,  he  yielded  to  our  advice  not  to 
hire  the  shop  until  the  following  year,  in  order 
to  save  needless  expense." 

When  the  first  satisfaction  of  being  a  landed 
proprietor  had  passed,  Balzac  realised  that  he 
had  added  a  new  burden  to  those  he  already 
carried,  and  he  confided  to  Mme.  Carraud: 
"Yes,  the  folly  is  committed  and  it  is  complete ! 
Don't  talk  of  it  to  me;  I  must  needs  pay  for 
it,  and  I  am  now  spending  my  nights  doing 
so!"  Forty  thousand  francs  had  been  added  to 
his  former  debts,  to  say  nothing  of  all  sorts  of 
trouble  which  Les  Jardies  was  still  destined  to 
cost  him. 

In  spite  of  his  formidable  powers  of  produc- 


AT  LES  JARDIES  197 

tion,  which  had  caused  him  to  be  called  by 
Hippolyte  Souverain  "the  most  fertile  of 
French  novelists/' — a  title,  by  the  way,  of 
which  he  was  far  from  proud, — Honore  de  Bal- 
zac could  not  succeed  in  freeing  himself  from 
debt.  Nevertheless,  between  1836  and  1839  he 
published:  The  Atheist's  Mass,  The  Interdic- 
tion, The  Old  Maid,  The  Cabinet  of  Antiques, 
Facino  Cane,  Lost  Illusions  (1st  part);  The 
Superior  Woman  (later  The  Employees),  The 
Cabinet  of  Antiques  (2d  part),  The  House  of 
Nucingen,  Splendours  and  Miseries  of  Courte- 
zans (1st  part),  A  Daughter  of  Eve,  Beatrix, 
Lost  Illusions  (2d  part),  A  Provincial  Great 
Man  in  Paris,  The  Secrets  of  the  Princesse  de 
Cadignan,  The  Village  Cure,  and  to  these  he 
added  in  1840  Pierrette,  Pierre  Grassou,  and  A 
Prince  of  Bohemia.  His  prices  had  risen,  new 
illustrated  editions  of  his  earlier  works  had  been 
issued,  and  he  was  receiving  high  rates  for  his 
short  stories,  not  only  from  the  magazines  but 
from  newspapers  such  as  the  Figaro,  the  Presse, 
the  Siecle  and  the  Constitutionnel ;  yet  nothing 
could  extinguish  his  debts,  those  debts  which 


198  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

he  had  been  so  long  carrying  like  a  cross. 
"Why,"  said  he,  "I  have  been  bowed  down  by 
this  burden  for  fifteen  years,  it  hampers  the  ex- 
pansion of  my  life,  it  disturbs  the  action  of 
my  heart,  it  stifles  my  thoughts,  it  puts  a  blight 
on  my  existence,  it  embarrasses  my  move- 
ments, it  checks  my  inspirations,  it  weighs  upon 
my  conscience,  it  interferes  with  everything,  it 
has  been  a  drag  on  my  career,  it  has  broken  my 
back,  it  has  made  me  an  old  man.  My  God, 
have  I  not  paid  dearly  enough  for  my  right  to 
bask  in  the  sunshine!  All  that  calm  future, 
that  tranquillity  of  which  I  stand  so  much  in 
need,  all  gambled  away  in  a  few  hours  and  ex- 
posed to  the  mercy  of  Parisian  caprice,  which 
for  the  moment  is  in  a  censorious  mood!" 

Balzac  now  staked  all  his  hopes  upon  his  first 
play,  Vautrin,  which  was  about  to  be  pro- 
duced at  the  Porte  Saint-Martin  theatre.  From 
the  very  outset  of  his  literary  career  his 
thoughts  had  steadily  turned  to  the  drama,  and 
his  earliest  attempt  had  been  that  ill-fated 
Cromwell,  which  had  failed  so  ignominiously 
when  read  to  his  family.    Yet  this  setback  had 


AT  LES  JARDIES  199 

not  definitely  turned  him  aside  from  the  stage; 
and,  while  he  rather  despised  the  theatre  as  a 
means  o£  literary  expression,  he  had  never 
ceased  to  consider  it  as  the  most  rapid  method ' 
of  earning  money  and  founding  a  fortune.  All 
the  time  that  he  was  writing  his  Human  Com- 
edy, one  can  feel  that  he  was  constantly  pre- 
occupied with  the  composition  of  plays,  of 
which  he  drafted  the  scenarios  without  ever 
elaborating  them.  In  1831  he  invited  Victor 
Ratier,  editor  of  La  Silhouette,  to  collaborate 
with  him,  specifying,  however,  "that  it  was 
more  a  question  of  establishing  a  literary  pork-* 
shop  than  a  reputation" ;  in  1832  he  announced 
to  his  mother  that  he  had  "taken  the  step  of 
writing  two  or  three  plays  for  stage  produc- 
tion!" and  he  added,  "This  is  the  greatest  mis- 
fortune which  could  happen  to  me;  but  neces- 
sity is  stronger  than  I,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
extricate  myself  in  any  other  way.  I  shall  try 
to  find  some  one  who  will  do  me  the  service  of 
signing  them,  so  that  I  shall  not  need  to  com- 
promise my  own  name."  Thereafter  he  con- 
ceived successively  a  Marie  Touchet,  a  trag- 


200  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

edy  in  prose  entitled  Don  Philip  and  Don  Car- 
los, a  farce  comedy,  Prudhomme  Bigamist,  a 
drama,  The  Courtiers,  written  in  collaboration 
with  Emmanuel  Arago  and  Jules  Sandeau, 
and  a  high-class  comedy,  The  Grande  Made- 
moiselle, also  in  collaboration  with  Sandeau. 
Then,  in  1836,  he  reverted  to  Marie  Touchet, 
and  composed  La  Gina,  a  drama  in  three  acts, 
and  Richard  the  Sponge-Hearted.  Finally, 
in  1839,  he  wrote  for  the  Renaissance  Theatre 
The  School  of  Married  Life,  with  the  obscure 
aid  of  Lassailly,  a  five-act  play  for  which  he 
was  offered  an  award  of  six  thousand  francs, 
and  which  he  himself  produced  in  print.  But 
it  was  never  performed,  in  spite  of  many  prom- 
ises. 

This  first  unsuccessful  attempt  at  stage  pro- 
duction discouraged  him  at  first,  yet  he  never 
gave  up  his  determination  to  succeed.  He  pre- 
pared a  second  play,  intending  to  ask  Theophile 
Gautier  to  collaborate  with  him;  this  second 
play  was  Vautrin. 

The  first  performance  of  Vautrin  took  place 
March   14,   1840.     Balzac  expected  that  this 


AT  LES  JARDIES  201 

play  would  bring  him  in  at  least  six  thousand 
francs.  Tickets  had  been  greatly  in  demand, 
and  speculators  had  so  completely  cornered 
them  that  the  audience,  composed  largely  of 
the  author's  friends,  could  not  obtain  them  at 
the  box  office.  It  was  a  tumultuous  evening, 
and  one  would  have  to  go  back  to  the  great 
opening  nights  of  Victor  Hugo  in  order  to  find 
a  parallel  case  of  hostile  demonstrations. 
Frederik  Lemaitre,  who  played  the  role  of 
Jacques  Collin,  had  conceived  the  idea  of  mak- 
ing himself  up  to  resemble  Louis  Philippe.  The 
King  of  France,  far  from  being  pleased  at  see- 
ing himself  masquerading  as  a  bandit,  sup- 
pressed the  play,  which  consequently  had  only 
the  one  performance.  It  was  a  disaster,  but  Bal- 
zac bore  up  valiantly  under  it.  Leon  Gozlin, 
who  called  upon  him  at  Les  Jardies  on  the  very 
day  when  the  royal  interdiction  reached  him, 
relates  that  he  talked  of  nothing  else  but  his 
plans  for  improving  his  property.  Balzac's 
friends,  headed  by  Victor  Hugo,  tried  to  use 
their  influence  with  the  government  officials, 
but  the  latter  were  powerless  to  do  otherwise 


202  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

than  to  confirm  the  order  of  Louis  Philippe; 
the  royal  edict  had  been  imperative.  The  gov- 
ernment offered  to  pay  Balzac  an  indemnity, 
but  he  proudly  refused. 

A  few  months  prior  to  the  production  of 
Vautrin,  Balzac,  then  at  the  height  of  his 
financial  difficulties  and  literary  labours,  had 
nevertheless  courageously  undertaken  the  de- 
fense of  a  man  accused  of  murder  whom  he  be- 
lieved to  be  innocent.  This  act  was  in  accord- 
ance with  his  conception  of  his  duty  as  a  citi- 
zen, and  it  bore  witness  to  his  generosity  and 
sense  of  justice.  The  case  in  question  was  that 
of  a  certain  notary,  Peytel  by  name,  of  Belley, 
who  was  accused  of  the  premeditated  murder 
of  his  wife  and  man-servant.  Balzac  had  had 
a  slight  acquaintance  with  him  in  1831,  at  the 
time  when  Peytel  was  part  owner  of  the  Fo- 
leur,  to  which  Balzac  contributed.  This  ac- 
quaintance had  sufficed  him  to  judge  of  the 
man's  character  and  to  conclude  that  he  was 
incapable  of  the  double  crime  with  which  he 
was  charged.  Regardless  of  his  own  most  press- 
ing interests,  Balzac,  accompanied  by  Gavarni, 


AT  LES  JARDIES  203 

set  out  for  Bourg,  where  the  trial  and  sentence 
of  death  had  already  taken  place.  He  saw  the 
condemned  man,  and  the  conversations  which 
they  had  together  still  further  strengthened  his 
opinion.  This  opinion  he  set  forth  in  a  Com- 
ment on  the  Peytel  Case,  which  the  Siecle 
published  in  its  issues  of  September  15-17,  1839, 
and  with  a  compelling  force  of  argument  and  a 
fervent  eloquence  he  demonstrated  the  inno- 
cence of  the  unfortunate  notary.  Nevertheless, 
the  Court  of  Cassation  found  no  reason  for 
granting  a  new  trial,  and  Peytel  was  executed 
at  Bourg,  October  28,  1839.  This  was  a  bitter 
blow  to  Balzac,  who  had  believed  that  he  could 
save  him.  Furthermore,  his  efforts  and  investi- 
gations had  cost  him  ten  thousand  francs ! 

This  was  a  cruel  loss,  both  in  time  and  in 
money.  His  novels  were  not  bringing  him  in  a 
hundredth  part  of  what  he  estimated  that  he 
ought  to  be  earning,  in  view  of  his  extraordinary 
rate  of  production.  He  placed  the  blame  upon 
the  unauthorised  Belgian  reprints,  which,  ac- 
cording to  his  calculations,  had  robbed  him  of 
more  than  a  million  francs.     Literary  works 


204  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

were  not  at  that  time  properly  protected,  and 
it  was  the  province  of  the  Society  of  Men  of 
Letters  to  demand  from  the  Government  an 
effective  defense  against  the  "hideous  piracy" 
of  foreign  countries.  Balzac  was  admitted  to 
the  Society  in  1839, — although  with  no  small 
difficulty,  for  he  had  many  enemies,  and  re- 
ceived only  fifty- three  votes,  while  forty-five 
were  necessary  for  election, — but  it  was  not 
long  before  he  had  made  his  influence  felt  and 
had  been  chosen  as  a  member  of  the  committee. 
Leon  Gozlan,  who  served  with  him,  acknowl- 
edged his  influence.  "Balzac,"  he  wrote, 
"brought  to  the  Society  a  profound,  almost 
diabolical  knowledge  of  the  chronic  wretched- 
ness of  the  profession;  a  rare  and  unequalled 
ability  to  deal  with  the  aristocrats  of  the  pub- 
lishing world ;  an  unconquerable  desire  to  limit 
their  depredations,  which  he  had  brooded  over 
on  the  Mount  Sinai  of  a  long  personal  experi- 
ence; and,  above  all  else,  an  admirable  convic- 
tion of  the  inherent  dignity  of  the  man  of  let- 
ters." 

It  was  Balzac's  ambition  to  form  a  sort  of 


AT  LES  JARDIES  205 

authors'  league,  under  the  direction  of  "liter- 
ary marshals,"  of  whom  he  should  be  the  first, 
and  including  in  its  membership  all  the  widely- 
scattered  men  of  letters,  banded  together  in 
defense  of  their  material  and  moral  interests. 
He  himself  set  an  example  by  requesting  the 
support  of  the  Society  against  a  little  sheet  en- 
titled Les  Scoles,  which  had  libelled  him  in  a 
cartoon  in  which  he  was  represented  in  prison 
for  debt,  wearing  his  monkish  robe  and  sur- 
rounded by  gay  company.  The  cartoon  bore 
the  following  legend:  "The  Reverend  Father 
Seraphitus  Mysticus  Goriot,  of  the  regular  or- 
der of  the  Friars  of  Clichy,  at  last  taken  in  by 
those  who  so  long  have  been  taken  in  by  him'9 
This  was  in  September,  1839,  and  on  the  22d  of 
the  following  October  Balzac  appeared  as  the 
representative  of  the  Society  of  Men  of  Letters 
before  the  trial  court  of  Rouen,  in  an  action 
which  it  had  begun  against  the  Memorial  de 
Rouen,  for  having  reprinted  certain  published 
matter  without  permission.  But  he  did  not 
limit  himself  to  a  struggle  from  day  to  day,  to 
discussions  in  committee  meetings,  to  appeals 


206  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

to  the  legislature, — his  ambition  was  to  become 
himself  the  law-maker  for  writers.  In  May, 
1840,  two  months  after  the  disastrous  failure 
of  Vautrin,  he  offered  to  the  consideration  of 
the  Society  of  Men  of  Letters  a  Literary 
Code,  divided  into  titles,  paragraphs,  and  ar- 
ticles, in  which  he  laid  down  the  principles 
from  which  to  formulate  practical  rules  for  the 
protection  of  the  interests  of  authors,  and  for 
the  greater  glory  of  French  literature. 

Having  been  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Official  Relations,  a  committee 
which  had  been  created  at  his  suggestion  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  that  men  of  letters  should 
exercise  a  just  influence  over  the  government, 
Balzac  drew  up,  in  1841,  some  highly  impor- 
tant Notes  to  be  submitted  to  Messieurs  the 
Deputies  constituting  the  Committee  on  the 
Law  of  literary  Property.  But  that  same 
year,  after  having  worked  upon  a  Manifesto 
which  the  Committee  was  to  present  to  the 
ruling  powers,  he  handed  in  his  resignation 
from  the  Society,  on  the  5th  of  October,  and  it 
was  found  impossible  to  make  him  reconsider 


AT  LES  JARDIES  207 

his  decision.  It  may  be  that  he  had  received 
some  slight  which  he  could  not  forgive,  or  per- 
haps he  had  decided  that  it  was  to  his  interest 
to  retain  in  his  own  name  the  right  to  author- 
ise the  republication  of  his  works. 

At  this  period  he  had  attained  that  suprem- 
acy of  which  he  had  formerly  dreamed  in  his 
humble  mansarde  chamber  in  the  Rue  Les- 
diguieres,  and  he  wished  to  have  it  crowned 
by  some  sort  of  official  recognition.  He  made 
up  his  mind  to  present  himself  for  election  to 
the  Academie  Frangaise,  in  December,  1839, 
but  withdrew  in  favour  of  the  candidacy  of 
Victor  Hugo,  notwithstanding  that  the  latter 
begged  him,  in  a  dignified  and  gracious  mes- 
sage, not  to  do  so. 

An  intercourse  which,  without  being  espe- 
cially cordial,  was  fairly  frequent  had  been  es- 
tablished between  these  two  great 'writers  as  a 
result  of  their  joint  labours  on  the  committee 
of  the  Society  of  Men  of  Letters.  During  the 
month  of  July,  1839,  Victor  Hugo  breakfasted 
with  Balzac  at  Les  Jardies,  in  company  with 
Gozlan,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  great 


208  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

project  of  the  Manifesto.  Gozlan,  who 
formed  the  third  member  of  this  triangular 
party,  has  left  the  following  delectable  account 
of  the  interview: 

"Balzac  was  picturesquely  clad  in  rags;  his 
trousers,  destitute  of  suspenders,  parted  com- 
pany with  his  ample  fancy  waistcoat;  his  down- 
trodden shoes  parted  company  with  his  trous- 
ers; his  necktie  formed  a  flaring  bow,  the  points 
of  which  nearly  reached  his  ears,  and  his  beard 
showed  a  vigorous  four  days'  growth.  As  for 
Victor  Hugo,  he  wore  a  gray  hat  of  a  very 
dubious  shade,  a  faded  blue  coat  with  gilt  but- 
tons resembling  a  casserole  in  colour  and  shape, 
a  much  frayed  black  cravat,  and,  as  a  finishing 
touch,  a  pair  of  green  spectacles  that  would 
have  delighted  the  heart  of  the  head  clerk  of  a 
country  sheriff,  enemy  of  solar  radiation !" 

They  made  the  circuit  of  the  property,  and 
Victor  Hugo  remained  politely  cold  before  the 
dithyrambic  praises  which  Balzac  lavished  on 
his  garden.  He  smiled  only  once,  and  that  was 
at  sight  of  a  walnut  tree,  the  only  tree  that  the 


AT  LES  JARDIES  209 

owner  of  Les  Jardies  had  acquired  from  the 
community. 

Victor  Hugo  had  revealed  to  him  the  enor- 
mous profits  that  he  drew  from  his  dramatic 
writings,  and  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  Balzac's 
persistent  efforts  to  have  a  play  produced  were 
due  to  this  momentary  glimpse  of  a  steady 
stream  of  wealth  that  was  thus  flashed  before 
his  dazzled  eyes.  After  the  catastrophe  of 
Vautrin,  he  still  pursued  his  dramatic  am- 
bitions with  Pamela  Giraud  and  Mercadet, 
but  failed  to  find  any  theatre  that  would  con- 
sent to  produce  them.  What  was  worse,  the 
year  1840  was,  beyond  all  others,  a  frightful 
one  for  Balzac.  He  faced  his  creditors  like  a 
stag  at  bay;  and  all  the  while  he  found  the 
burden  of  Les  Jardies  becoming  constantly 
heavier.  The  walls  surrounding  the  property 
had  slipped  on  their  clay  foundation  and 
broken  down,  while  Balzac  himself  had  sus- 
tained a  serious  fall  on  the  steep  slopes  of  his 
garden,  and  had  consequently  lost  more  than  a 
month's  work.  Furthermore,  he  underwent  im- 
prisonment at  Sevres  for  having  refused  to  take 


210  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

his  turn  at  standing  guard  over  his  neighbours' 
vineyards. 

In  his  distress  he  thought  seriously  of  ex- 
patriating himself  and  setting  out  for  Brazil; 
and,  before  coming  to  a  final  decision,  he 
awaited  only  the  success  or  failure  of  a  publish- 
ing venture  such  as  he  had  already  undertaken 
in  vain.  In  the  month  of  July,  1840,  he  started 
the  Revue  Parisienne,  of  which  he  was  the  sole 
editor,  and  through  which  he  proclaimed  a  dic- 
tatorial authority  over  the  arts  and  letters,  so- 
ciety and  the  government.  He  had  to  abandon 
it  after  the  third  number. 

Balzac  remained  in  France,  but  he  was 
obliged  to  quit  Les  Jardies.  His  creditors 
looked  upon  this  property  as  their  legitimate 
prey,  and  neither  ruse  nor  sacrifice  could  any 
longer  keep  it  from  them.  He  first  made  a 
fictitious  sale  of  it  to  his  architect,  and  then  a 
real  one,  on  the  advice  of  his  lawyer.  It  had 
cost  him  more  than  ninety  thousand  francs, 
and  he  got  back  only  seventeen  thousand  five 
hundred.  But  he  had  lived  there  through  some 
beautiful  dreams  and  great  hopes. 


CHAPTER   IX 

IN   RETIREMENT 

TPON  leaving  Les  Jardies,  Balzac  took 
^  refuge  in  the  village  of  Passy,  at  No.  19, 
Rue  Basse,*  and  there  buried  himself.  It  was 
there  that  he  meant  to  make  his  last  effort  and 
either  perish  or  conquer  destiny.  Under  the 
name  of  M.  de  Brugnol  he  had  hired  a  small 
one-story  pavilion,  situated  in  a  garden  and 
hidden  from  sight  by  the  houses  facing  on  the 
street.  His  address  was  known  only  to  trusted 
friends,  and  it  was  now  more  difficult  than  ever 
to  discover  him.  And  his  life  as  literary  galley- 
slave  was  now  burdened,  in  this  solitude,  with 
new  and  overwhelming  tasks. 

In  the  midst  of  the  stormy  tumult  of  money 
troubles  and  creative  labour  there  was  only  one 
single  gleam  of  calm  and  tender  light.    In  No- 

*  Thanks  to  M.  de  Royaumont,  this  building  has  be- 
come the  Balzac  Museum,  similar  to  that  of  Victor  Hugo 
at  Paris,  and  of  Goethe  at  Frankfort. 

211 


212  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

vember,  1840,  he  formed  the  project  of  going  to 
Russia,  and  promised  himself  the  pleasure  of 
joining  the  Comtesse  de  Hanska  at  St.  Peters- 
burg for  two  long  months.  This  hope,  which  he 
clung  to  with  all  the  strength  of  his  ardent 
nature,  was  not  to  be  realised  until  1843,  for 
his  departure  was  delayed  from  day  to  day 
through  his  financial  embarrassment  and  un- 
fulfilled contracts  with  publishers. 

Shutting  himself  into  his  writing  den,  a 
small  narrow  room  with  a  low  ceiling,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  finish  The  Village  Cure  and  The 
Diaries  of  Two  Young  Brides;  he  began  A 
Dark  Affair  for  a  journal  called  Le  Commerce, 
The  Two  Brothers,  later  A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, for  La  Presse;  Les  Lecamus,  for  Le 
Siecle;  The  Trials  and  Tribulations  of  an  Eng- 
lish Cat,  for  one  of  Hetzel's  publications, 
Scenes  from  the  Private  and  Public  Life  of 
Animals;  he  worked  upon  The  Peasants  and 
wrote  Ursule  Mirouet, — altogether  more  than 
thirty  thousand  lines  in  the  newspaper  col- 
umns, in  less  than  one  year! 

Meanwhile  his  business  affairs,  so  entangled 


THE  DEATH  OF  BALZAC 

Above:    The  house  in  the  Rue  Fortunee  (now  Rue  Balzac),  in  which 

Balzac  died  August  18,  1850.     Below:     The  famous  novelist  on  his 

death  bed,  by  Eugene  Giraud. 


IN  RETIREMENT  213 

that  he  himself  hardly  knew  where  he  stood,  in 
spite  of  a  portfolio  bound  in  black  in  which  he 
kept  his  promissory  notes  and  every  other  va- 
riety of  commercial  paper, — and  which  he  called 
his  Comptes  Melancoliques  (his  Melancholy 
Accounts),  adding  that  they  were  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  companion  volume  to  his  Contes 
Drolatiques  (his  Droll  Tales), — began  to  as- 
sume some  sort  of  order,  thanks  to  the  efforts 
of  his  lawyer,  M.  Gavault,  who  had  under- 
taken to  wind  them  up.  Balzac  remained  as 
poor  as  ever,  for  he  had  to  turn  over  to  M. 
Gavault  all  the  money  he  took  in,  aside  from 
what  he  needed  for  the  strict  necessities  of  life. 
He  admitted  proudly  that  at  this  period  there 
were  times  when  he  contented  himself  with 
eating  a  single  small  roll  on  the  Boulevard,  and 
that  he  had  gone  for  days  together  with  one 
franc  as  his  sole  cash  on  hand. 

But  a  new  edition  was  soon  destined  to  put 
him  on  his  feet,  enable  him  to  liquidate  a  por- 
tion of  his  floating  debt  and  to  pay  back  some 
of  his  biggest  loans.  An  agreement  had  been 
formed  between  Furne,  Dubochet,  Hetzel  and 


214  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Paulin  to  bring  out  an  edition  of  his  complete 
works  under  the  glorious  and  definitive  title  of 
The  Human  Comedy.  But  it  meant  a  vast 
amount  of  work,  all  his  older  volumes  to  re- 
vise and  new  ones  to  write, — a  task  that  he  esti- 
mated would  require  not  less  than  seven  years 
to  finish.  If  he  had  produced  thirty  thousand 
lines  in  1841,  he  calculated  that  he  was  bound 
by  his  contracts  to  produce  not  less  than  forty 
thousand  in  1842,  not  counting  the  work  of 
correcting  proofs  of  all  the  new  editions  of  his 
published  stories. 

His  mental  powers  were  as  fertile  as  ever,  but 
his  bodily  strength,  despite  his  robust  constitu- 
tion, sometimes  broke  down  under  the  pro- 
digious fever  of  creation.  Balzac's  physician, 
Dr.  Nacquart,  obliged  him  to  take  a  rest.  "I 
am  ill,"  he  wrote  at  this  time.  "I  have  been 
resting  all  through  the  latter  part  of  May 
(1841)  in  a  bathtub,  taking  three-hour  baths 
every  day,  to  keep  down  the  inflammation 
which  threatened  me,  and  following  a  debilitat- 
ing diet,  which  has  resulted  in  what,  in  my 
case,  amounts  to  a  disease,  namely,  emptiness 


IN  RETIREMENT  215 

of  the  brain.  Not  a  stroke  of  work,  not  an  atom 
of  strength,  and  up  to  the  beginning  of  this 
month  I  have  remained  in  the  agreeable  con- 
dition of  an  oyster.  But  at  last  Dr.  Nacquart 
is  satisfied  and  I  am  back  at  my  task  and  have 
just  finished  The  Diaries  of  Two  Young  Brides 
and  have  written  Ursule  Mirouet,  one  of  those 
privileged  stories  which  you  are  going  to  read ; 
and  now  I  am  starting  in  on  a  volume  for  the 
Montyon  prize."  * 

Every  one  of  Balzac's  novels  cost  him  unim- 
aginable and  never  ending  toil.  After  having 
brooded  over  his  subject,  planned  the  situa- 
tion, characterised  his  personages,  and  decided 
upon  the  general  philosophy  that  he  intended 
to  express,  there  followed  the  task  of  translat- 
ing all  that  he  had  conceived  and  thought  into 
an  adequate  literary  form.  Balzac  often  pro- 
ceeded in  bursts  of  enthusiasm,  flashes  of  illu- 
mination, and  in  a  few  nights  would  map  out 
the  entire  scenario  of  a  whole  novel.  This  first 
effort  was  in  a  certain  sense  the  parent-cell, 

*  Letters  to  a  Foreign  Lady,  Vol.  I,  p.  560,  Letter  of 
June-July,  1841. 


216  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

which  little  by  little  gathered  to  itself  the  ele- 
ments necessary  for  the  final  composition  of 
the  work.  The  proof  sheets  sent  to  Balzac  al- 
ways had  broad  margins,  and  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  he  amplified  the  initial  draft  as 
though  he  were  attaching  the  muscles  and  ten- 
dons to  the  bones  of  a  skeleton ;  then  one  set  of 
proofs  followed  another,  while  he  imparted  to 
his  story  a  network  of  veins  and  arteries  and  a 
nervous  system,  infused  blood  into  its  veins  and 
breathed  into  it  his  powerful  breath  of  life, — 
and  all  of  a  sudden  there  it  was,  a  living,  pul- 
sating creation,  within  that  envelope  of  words 
into  which  he  had  infused  the  best  that  he 
possessed  in  style  and  colour.  But  he  suffered 
bitter  disillusions  when  the  work  was  finally 
printed;  the  creator  never  found  his  creation 
sufficiently  perfect.  Balzac  suffered  with  all  the 
sensibility  of  his  artistic  conscience  from  blem- 
ishes which  he  regarded  as  glaring  faults,  and 
which  he  followed  up  and  corrected  with  un- 
paralleled ardour.  He  was  aided  in  this  task 
by  Mme.  de  Berny,  his  sister  Laure,  Charles 
Lemesle  and  Denoyers;  and  he  himself,  a  lit- 


IN  RETIREMENT  217 

erary  giant,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  write  to 
Mme.  Carraud  that  his  work  was  in  its  own 
line  a  greater  achievement  than  the  Cathedral 
at  Bourges  was  in  architecture,  spent  whole 
days  in  shaping  and  reshaping  a  phrase,  like 
some  sublime  mason  who — by  a  prodigy — had 
built  a  cathedral  single-handed  and  whose 
heart  bled  upon  discovering  a  neglected  carv- 
ing in  the  shadow  of  some  buttress  and  ex- 
pended infinite  pains  to  perfect  it,  although  it 
was  almost  invisible  amidst  the  vastness  and 
the  beauty  of  the  whole  structure. 

Accordingly  his  work  became  steadily  more 
laborious  to  Balzac,  and  from  time  to  time  we 
can  hear  him  grumbling  and  groaning;  we  can 
see  him  at  his  task,  his  broad  face  contracted, 
his  black  eyes  bloodshot,  his  skin  bathed  in 
perspiration  and  showing  dark,  almost  green- 
ish, in  the  candle-light,  while  his  whole  body 
trembled  and  quivered  with  the  unseen  effort  of 
creation.  His  fatigue  was  often  extreme;  the 
use  of  coffee  troubled  his  stomach  and  heated 
his  blood;  he  had  a  nervous  twitching  of  the 
eyelids,  and  suffered  from  painful  shortness  of 


218  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

breath  and  a  congested  condition  of  the  head 
that  resulted  in  over-powering  somnolence. 

But  he  rallied  and  his  will  power  dominated 
illness  itself  and  imposed  his  own  rules  upon 
his  overstrained  body.  At  the  same  time  he 
dreamed  of  a  calmer  life,  he  pictured  the  de- 
lights of  bucolic  days  and  longed  to  know  when 
this  driving  slavery  was  to  end.  Accordingly 
we  find  him  consulting  a  sorcerer,  a  reader  of 
cards,  the  celebrated  Balthazar,  in  regard  to  his 
future.  He  was  amazed  to  find  how  much  of 
his  past  this  man  was  able  to  reveal  to  him,  a 
past  made  up  of  struggles  and  of  obstacles  over- 
come, and  he  joyously  accepted  predictions  that 
assured  him  victory.  Balzac  was  superstitious, 
not  in  a  vulgar  way,  but  through  a  deep  curi- 
osity in  the  presence  of  those  mysteries  of  the 
universe  which  are  unexplained  by  science.  He 
believed  himself  to  be  endowed  with  magnetic 
powers;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  irresisti- 
ble effect  of  his  words,  the  subtle  force  which 
emanated  from  his  whole  personality  are  con- 
firmed by  his  contemporaries.  He  believed  in 
telepathy,  he  held  that  two  beings  who  love 


IN  RETIREMENT  219 

each  other,  and  whose  sensibilities  are  in  a  cer- 
tain degree  in  harmony,  are  able,  even  when 
far  apart,  mutually  to  respond  to  emotions  felt 
by  the  one  or  the  other.  He  consulted  clairvoy- 
ants as  to  the  course  of  diet  to  be  followed  by 
Mme.  Hanska,  and  gravely  communicated  their 
replies  to  her,  urging  her  to  follow  their  ad- 
vice. Occurrences  apparently  quite  trivial 
troubled  him  profoundly,  and  he  was  anxious 
for  several  days  because  he  had  lost  a  shirt- 
stud  given  him  by  Mme.  de  Berny  and  could 
not  determine  what  could  be  the  meaning  of 
the  loss.  His  sorcerer  had  predicted  that  he 
would  shortly  receive  a  letter  which  would 
change  the  entire  course  of  his  life,  and,  as  a 
confirmation  of  his  clairvoyance,  Mme.  de 
Hanska  announced  a  few  months  later  the  death 
of  her  husband,  M.  de  Hanski,  which  permitted 
Balzac  to  indulge  in  the  highest  hopes. 

This  event  brought  him  an  access  of  fresh 
courage,  for  in  order  to  make  the  journey  to 
St.  Petersburg  it  was  essential  that  he  should 
first  achieve  a  triumph,  brief,  brilliant  and  com- 
plete.   He  decided  once  again  to  make  a  bold 


220  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

attempt  at  the  theatre,  and  the  scene  of  battle 
was  to  be  the  Odeon.  He  offered  The  Re- 
sources of  Quinola  to  the  manager,  Lireux, 
who  accepted  it  with  enthusiasm.  Balzac  read 
his  comedy  to  its  future  interpreters, — notwith- 
standing that  he  had  as  yet  written  only  four 
acts  of  it, — and  calmly  informed  them  that  he 
would  have  to  tell  them  the  general  substance 
of  the  fifth.  They  were  amazed  at  such  bold 
disregard  of  professional  usages,  but  it  was 
passed  over,  for  Lireux  was  all  impatience  to 
produce  The  Resources  and  to  begin  the  re- 
hearsals. 

Warned  by  the  failure  of  Vautrin,  Balzac 
took  the  most  minute  care  in  arranging  for  the 
opening  night  audience  which  he  relied  upon  to 
sweep  Quinola  heavenward  on  a  mounting 
wave  of  glory.  To  begin  with,  he  did  away 
with  the  claqueurs  and  fixed  the  price  of  ad- 
mission at  five  francs,  while  the  general  scale 
of  prices  was  as  follows :  balcony  seats  twenty- 
five  francs,  stalls  twenty  francs,  seats  in  the 
open  boxes  of  the  first  tier  twenty-five  francs, 
open  boxes  of  the  second  tier  twenty  francs, 


IN  RETIREMENT  221 

closed  boxes  of  the  second  tier  twenty-five 
francs,  baignoir  boxes  twenty  francs.  He  had 
no  use  for  mere  nobodies,  but  determined  to 
sift  out  his  audience  from  amongst  the  most 
distinguished  men  and  women  in  all  Paris, 
ministers,  counts,  princesses,  academicians,  and 
financiers.  He  included  the  two  Princesses 
Troubetskoi,  the  Countess  Leon,  the  Countess 
Nariskine,  the  Aguados,  the  Rothschilds,  the 
Doudeauvilles,  the  Castries,  and  he  decided  that 
there  should  be  none  but  pretty  women  in  the 
front  seats  of  the  open  boxes.  And  he  counted 
upon  piling  up  a  fine  little  surplus,  since  the 
revenues  of  the  box-office  were  in  his  hands  for 
the  first  three  nights.  Alas,  on  the  night  of 
March  19,  1842,  The  Resources  of  Quinola 
met  with  the  same  reception  as  Vautrin  had 
done  before  it;  in  spite  of  all  his  precautions, 
his  enemies  had  gained  admission  to  the 
Odeon,  and  throughout  the  whole  evening,  from 
the  first  act  onward,  there  was  a  ceaseless  storm 
of  hisses  and  cat-calls.  He  had  wasted  four 
months,  only  to  arrive  at  another  defeat. 
And  all  the  while  his  financial  difficulties 


222  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

were  becoming  keener,  more  pressing,  more  im- 
minent, and  Balzac,  overburdened,  recapitu- 
lated his  disasters  as  follows :  the  Chronique  de 
Paris,  the  Trip  to  Sardinia,  the  Revue  Pari- 
sienne  and  Vautrin;  nevertheless  he  proudly 
squared  his  shoulders.    "My  writings  will  never 
make  my  fortune  until  the  time  comes  when  I 
shall  no  longer  be  in  need  of  a  fortune,  for  it 
takes  twenty-five  years  before  a  success  begins 
to  pay,  and  fifty  years  before  a  great  achieve- 
ment is  understood."     And  he  returned  to  his 
work!     His  Complete  Works  were  now  pub- 
lished, for  which  he  had  written  a  "Foreword," 
summing  up  his  method,  his  art  and  his  idea; 
he  composed  Albert  Savarus,  in  order  "to  re- 
spond with  a  masterpiece  to  the  barkings  of  the 
press";  he  completed  The  Peasants,  The  Two 
Brothers   (later  A  Bachelor's  Establishment), 
he  wrote  The  Pretended  Mistress,  A  Debut  in 
Life,  which  appeared  in  La  Legislature,  David 
Sechard,  The  Evil  Doings  of  a  Saint,  The  Love 
of  Two  Beasts;  he  began  The  Deputy  from 
Arcis  and   The  Brothers  of  Consolation;  he 
dreamed  of  bringing  out  a  new  edition — and 


IN  RETIREMENT  223 

we  know  the  labour  that  new  editions  cost 
him! — of  Louis  Lambert  and  Seraphita;  and, 
lastly,  he  corrected  three  volumes  of  the  Come- 
die  Humaine! 

Living  as  a  recluse  at  Passy,  shut  up  in  his 
working  room  with  its  hangings  of  red  velvet, 
seated  at  his  table,  with  one  shapely  hand  sup- 
porting his  massive  head  and  his  eyes  fixed  upon 
a  miniature  reproducing  the  somewhat  opulent 
contours  of  Mme.  Hanska's  profile,  and  hence 
straying  to  an  aquarelle  representing  the  cha- 
teau at  Wierzchownia,  Balzac  interrupted  his 
proof  correcting  to  forget  his  weariness  in  gold- 
en dreams:  It  was  impossible  that  he  should 
fail  to  be  elected  to  the  Academie  Frangaise — 
which  would  mean  two  thousand  francs — here- 
upon he  smiled — he  was  sure  of  being  appointed 
a  member  of  the  dictionary  committee — six 
thousand  francs  more — his  smile  broadened — 
and  why  should  he  not  become  a  member  of 
the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles-Lettres 
and  its  permanent  secretary? — another  six 
thousand  francs — total,  fourteen  thousand! — 
and  laughing  his  vast  sonorous  laugh — in  view 


224  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

of  this  assured  and  honourable  position — Bal- 
zac made  plans  for  a  prompt  marriage  with  his 
far-off  and  long-awaited  bride. 

But  his  dreams  were  of  short  duration.  There 
was  no  end  of  ink-stained  paper  which  had  to 
be  inked  still  further,  for  without  money  there 
could  be  no  journey  to  St.  Petersburg.  And 
then  there  were  losses  of  time,  which  he  re- 
gretted but  could  not  avoid,  such  as  having  to 
pose  for  David  of  Angers,  who  was  modelling 
his  monumental  bust;  having  to  take  long 
walks,  in  order  to  keep  down  his  growing  corpu- 
lence; and  inviting  a  few  friends  to  Le  Rocher 
de  Cancale,  Victor  Hugo  and  Leon  Gozlan,  in 
order  to  entertain  a  Russian,  M.  de  Lenz,  who 
wished  to  meet  him, — a  sumptuous  and  lively 
dinner  which  cost  him  a  hundred  and  twenty 
francs, — a  sum  which  he  naturally  had  to  bor- 
row, and  with  no  small  difficulty! 

After  alternating  between  hope  and  despair, 
Balzac  set  forth  by  way  of  Dunkerque  for  St. 
Petersburg,  where  he  arrived  July  29,  1843, 
not  returning  to  Paris  until  the  3rd  of  Novem- 
ber.   This  was  his  fourth  meeting  with  Mme. 


IN  RETIREMENT  225 

Hanska  in  the  space  of  ten  years,  and  the  first 
since  the  death  of  M.  de  Hanski.*  Balzac  was 
happy  and  irresponsible,  he  laughed  his  deep, 
resounding  laugh  of  joyous  days,  that  laugh 
which  no  misfortune  could  quite  extinguish. 
He  was  carefree  and  elated,  and  found  the 
strength  to  write  a  short  story,  Honorine, 
without  taking  coffee.  He  indulged  in  jests; 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  he  declared,  valued  him 
to  the  extent  of  thirty-two  roubles,  for  that  was 
the  cost  of  his  permit  of  residence.  And  heart 
and  soul  he  gave  himself  up  to  his  dear  Coun- 
tess Hanska. 

Balzac's  trip  to  Russia  was  the  source  of  nu- 
merous legends.  It  was  said  that  he  went  for 
the  purpose  of  asking  the  Czar  to  authorise 
him  to  write  a  work  that  should  be  to  a  certain 
extent  official,  for  the  purpose  of  refuting  M.  de 
Custine's  Russia  in  1839,  and  that,  having 
demanded  an  audience  in  too  cavalier  a  tone, 
he  was  ordered  to  regain  the  frontier  by  the 
shortest  possible  route.    Others  related  that  he 

*Hanski  is  the  masculine  form  for  Hanska.  (Translator's 
Note.) 


226  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

had  gone  there  in  pursuit  of  a  princess  whom 
he  was  bent  upon  marrying. 

The  return  trip  was  made  in  short  stages 
through  Germany  and  Belgium,  and  Balzac 
stayed  over  long  enough  in  Berlin,  Dresden 
and  Liege  to  become  acquainted  with  these 
cities  and  their  museums.  But  he  had  no  sooner 
arrived  in  Paris  than  he  was  attacked  with  in- 
flammation of  the  brain,  and  Dr.  Nacquart  put 
him  on  a  very  strict  regime.  In  Paris  he  once 
again  found  his  tasks  and  his  financial  diffi- 
culties faithfully  awaiting  him,  and,  faithful  in 
his  turn,  he  set  to  work  again  with  true  "Bal- 
zacian  fury."  But  now  a  new  element  had  en- 
tered into  his  life:  his  marriage  toMme.Hanska, 
although  still  far  distant,  and  dependent  upon 
chance,  was  at  least  a  settled  question,  and  he 
left  St.  Petersburg  taking  her  formal  promise 
with  him.  Consequently,  whatever  the  hard- 
ships of  his  existence,  his  periods  of  poverty 
and  toil,  he  was  now  sustained  by  the  hope  of 
realising  a  union  that  had  been  so  long  desired, 
and  he  strove  towards  it  with  all  his  tenacious 
energy,  as  towards  a  supreme  goal.     For  the 


IN  RETIREMENT  227 

next  seven  years  his  every  act  was  designed  as 
a  preparation  for  his  marriage,  the  future  or- 
ganisation of  his  life,  when  he  should  become 
the  husband  of  the  Countess  Hanska.  He  con- 
cerned himself  with  her  financial  affairs,  with 
the  lawsuit  brought  against  her  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  with  the  difficulties  arising 
from  a  contested  inheritance;  and  from  a  dis- 
tance he  gave  her  advice  as  to  the  management 
of  her  property  and  the  investment  of  her  prin- 
cipal. And  at  the  same  time  he  kept  her  in- 
formed of  his  efforts  to  find  a  home  worthy  of 
their  happiness,  told  her  of  the  household  fur- 
nishings he  had  bought,  and  sketched  the  vari- 
ous scales  of  domestic  and  social  life  which  one 
could  live  according  to  the  amount  of  one's  in- 
come. 

These  were  no  longer  dreams,  practically 
speaking,  but  projects  for  an  assured  future. 
Nevertheless,  he  was  still  destined  to  pass 
through  many  a  disastrous  period  before  the 
triumph  came.  In  1843  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the  Academie  Frangaise,  and  he  had  reason  to 
believe  that  he  would  be  welcomed  there  with 


228  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

especial  honours.  His  already  extensive  achieve- 
ments, surpassing  all  contemporary  production, 
were  further  augmented  by  Honorine,  The 
Muse  of  the  Department,  Lost  Illusions  (part 
three),  The  Sufferings  of  an  Inventor,  a  Mono- 
graph on  the  Parisian  Press,  which  had  aroused 
great  anger,  The  Splendour  and  Misery  of 
Courtezans  (second  part),  Modeste  Mignon, 
and  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  (later  The 
Seamy  Side  of  Contemporary  History),  and 
there  was  no  other  writer  who  was  in  a  position 
to  dispute  the  sceptre  with  him.  Nevertheless, 
legitimate  as  his  candidacy  was,  he  felt  the 
opposition  to  it,  and,  realising  the  cause,  he 
wrote  to  Nodier,  who  was  supporting  him,  this 
proudly  sad  letter: 

"My  good  Nodier, 

"I  know  to-day  so  surely  that  my  financial 
position  is  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  opposition  to 
my  candidacy  for  the  Academie,  that  I  beg  you, 
though  with  profound  regret,  not  to  use  your  influ- 
ence in  my  favour. 

"If  I  am  debarred  from  the  Acad&nie  by  reason 
of  a  most  honourable  poverty,  I  shall  never  again 
present  myself  in  the  days  when  prosperity  accords 
me  her  favours.    I  am  writing  to  the  same  effect 


IN  RETIREMENT  229 

to  our  friend  Victor  Hugo,  who  has  been  working 
for  me. 
"God  give  you  health,  my  good  Nodier." 

And,  this  letter  being  written,  Balzac  once 
more  buried  himself  in  his  work  with  such  en- 
ergy that  he  had  a  rush  of  blood  to  the  head, 
together  with  such  atrocious  neuralgic  pains 
that  it  was  necessary  to  apply  leeches.  None 
the  less  he  continued  to  work,  and,  if  he  went 
out  at  all,  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  his 
printers  or  going  on  the  trail  of  works  of  art. 
From  the  time  that  the  question  of  his  marriage 
was  assured  he  began  an  assiduous  search  for 
beautiful  adornments  for  his  future  home,  their 
home ;  and  he  prided  himself  on  his  instinct  as 
a  collector  and  his  cleverness  as  a  buyer.  He 
could  get  the  upper  hand  of  the  oldest  anti- 
quary. He  had  bought  some  Florentine  furni- 
ture worthy  of  the  Louvre,  a  commode  and  a 
writing-desk  that  belonged  to  Marie  de  Medicis, 
for  thirteen  hundred  and  fifty  francs — a  unique 
bargain! — and  he  could  sell  them  again  at  a 
profit  of  thousands  of  francs  if  he  wished  to. 
Perhaps  he  would  consent  to  part  with  the 


230  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

commode,  but  he  intended  to  keep  the  writing- 
desk  and  place  it  between  two  ebony  ward- 
robes which  he  already  possessed,  and  it  would 
cost  him  nothing,  because  the  sale  of  the  other 
piece,  the  commode,  would  cover  the  entire 
cost!  And  although  in  his  letters  to  Mme. 
Hanska  he  defended  himself  against  the  charge 
of  prodigality,  these  "good  bargains"  still  con- 
tinued. A  clock  of  royal  magnificence  and  two 
vases  of  pale  green  garnet,  also  Bouchardon's 
"Christ"  in  a  frame  by  Brustolone.  And  for 
years  he  continued  in  pursuit  of  bric-a-brac, 
paintings  and  other  works  of  art.  In  1845,  on 
his  way  home  after  accompanying  Mme. 
Hanska  to  Naples,  he  passed  through  Mar- 
seilles, where  he  found  some  Chinese  vases  and 
plates  at  Lazard's  curio  shop,  and,  after  reaching 
Paris,  he  wrote  to  Lazard,  ordering  some  Chi- 
nese Horns-of-plenty  and  some  "very  fine  book- 
cases ten  metres  long  by  three  high,  richly  orna- 
mented or  richly  carved."  And,  not  content 
with  giving  these  instructions  to  the  dealer,  he 
wrote  to  Mery,  who  had  entertained  him  at 
Marseilles,  explaining  what  he  wanted  from 


IN  RETIREMENT  231 

Lazard,  and  giving  the  following  excellent  les- 
son in  the  art  of  bargaining: 

"While  you  are  jollying  the  worthy  Lazard, 
do  me  the  favour  of  sending  from  time  to  time 
some  of  your  friends  to  bargain  for  the  two 
objects  in  question,  and  have  them  always  make 
an  offer,  some  of  fifty,  others  of  a  hundred, 
others  of  twenty-five  francs  less  than  yours. 
After  a  fortnight  of  this  manoeuvring,  some  fine 
morning  Lazard  will  let  you  have  them." 

And  Balzac  added  a  postscript  to  this  little 
lesson  in  the  fine  art  of  bargaining:  "Never 
become  a  collector,  for  if  you  do  you  give  your- 
self into  the  keeping  of  a  demon  as  exacting 
and  jealous  as  the  demon  of  gambling."  But 
while  warning  his  friends  against  his  own  ruling 
passion  he  surrendered  himself  to  it  with  pas- 
sionate delight.  During  his  leisure  hours  he 
wandered  at  random  through  Paris,  like  a  hunt- 
er on  the  trail  of  his  quarry, — through  Paris 
which  he  knew  down  to  the  remotest  of  its 
back  alleys  and  which  he  loved  even  in  its  slums. 
When  he  ran  across  some  rare  and  precious 
piece,  or  something  that  merely  appealed  to  his 


232  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

individual  taste,  he  derived  an  intense  joy  out 
of  employing  all  his  trickery,  his  readiness  of 
speech,  his  persuasive  powers,  to  beat  down  the 
price  of  the  coveted  object.  It  was  a  battle  in 
which  he  chose  to  come  out  conqueror.  It 
pleased  him  to  be  recognised  as  a  man  with  the 
business  instinct;  and  he  threw  out  his  chest 
when  he  repeated  the  remark  of  his  publisher, 
Souverain,  "M.  de  Balzac  is  better  at  figures 
than  Rothschild !" 

In  1846,  during  a  new  trip  to  Italy  with  Mme. 
Hanska,  her  daughter  Anna  and  the  latter's 
husband,  Count  Georges  Mniszech,  he  ran- 
sacked all  Naples,  Rome  and  Genoa,  and  no 
longer  confined  his  attention  to  furniture  and 
bric-a-brac,  but  had  his  eye  open  for  paintings 
as  well,  because  his  latest  ambition  was  to 
found  a  gallery.  This  taste  for  paintings  came 
to  him  rather  late  in  life,  for  his  artistic  appre- 
ciation had  long  been  limited  to  the  works  of 
Girodet,  a  taste  which  called  forth  many  a  sar- 
casm from  the  far  better  informed  Theophile 
Gautier.  In  Rome  Balzac  purchased  a  Sebas- 
tiano  del  Piombo,  a  Bronzino  and  a  Mierevelt, 


IN  RETIREMENT  233 

he  hunted  up  some  Hobbemas  and  Holbeins,  he 
secured  a  Natoire  and  a  Breughel,— which  he 
decided  to  sell,  as  it  proved  not  to  be  genuine, 
— for  he  wanted  "pictures  of  the  first  rank  or 
none  at  air';  furthermore,  he  brought  back  to 
Paris  a  Judgment  of  Paris,  attributed  to  Gior- 
gione,  a  Greuze, — a  sketch  of  his  wife, — a  Van 
Dyck,  a  Paul  Brill,  The  Sorceresses,  a  sketch 
of  the  birth  of  Louis  XIV  representing  the 
Adoration  of  the  Shepherds,  an  Aurora  by 
Guido,  a  Rape  of  Europa,  by  Annibale  Car- 
rachio  or  Domenichino, — and  there  we  have 
the  beginning  of  his  gallery  such  as  he  described 
it  in  Cousin  Pons.  At  the  same  time  he  did 
not  neglect  other  forms  of  art  for  the  sake  of 
his  paintings;  he  acquired  a  Saxon  dinner  ser- 
vice and  a  set  of  Dutch  furniture  from  Am- 
sterdam; Mme.  Hanska  sent  him  some  porce- 
lains from  Germany;  he  sent  to  Tours  for  a 
writing  desk  and  a  commode  of  the  Louis  XVI 
period,  he  bought  a  bed  supposed  to  have  be- 
longed to  Mme.  de  Pompadour  and  which  he 
intended  for  his  guest  chamber,  besides  a  par- 
lour set  in  carved  woodwork,  "of  the  last  de~ 


234  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

gree  of  magnificence,"  and  a  dining-room  foun- 
tain made  by  Bernard  Palissy  for  Henry  II 
or  Charles  IX.  Little  by  little  he  accumulated 
these  marvels,  destined  to  adorn  his  home  after 
the  marriage. 

And,  in  the  hope  of  hastening  the  date,  he 
made  one  supreme  effort,  with  his  brain  as 
clear  and  as  fertile  as  in  the  periods  of  his  most 
furious  production.  Between  1844  and  1847 
he  produced,  in  addition  to  the  works  already 
mentioned,  The  Peasants,  The  Splendour  and 
Misery  of  Courtezans  (third  part),  Cousin 
Bette,  The  Involuntary  Comedians,  The  Last 
Incarnation  of  Vautrin,  Cousin  Pons,  The 
Deputy  from  Arcis,  and  The  Lesser  Bour- 
geoisie. He  foresaw  the  dawn  of  his  deliver- 
ance: he  would  be  able  to  achieve  his  gigantic 
task  in  peace. 

Balzac  was  fully  conscious  of  his  genius  and 
of  the  greatness  of  the  monument  which  he 
had  already  partly  raised.  He  objected  to  being 
classed  with  the  men  of  letters  of  his  period, 
and  for  some  time  past  had  claimed  recognition 
as  standing  on  a  higher  level.    Eugene  de  Mire- 


IN  RETIREMENT  235 

court  was  witness  of  a  scene  which  bore  evi- 
dence to  his  justifiable- pride: 

"It  was  during  the  winter  of  1843,"  he  wrote, 
"that  Messrs.  Maulde  and  Renon  published  a 
Picture  of  the  Great  City,  which  was  edited 
by  Marc  Fournier,  the  present  manager  of  the 
Port-Saint-Martin  theatre. 

"One  evening  Balzac  entered  the  publishers' 
office  and  said: 

"  'Our  agreement,  gentlemen,  was  that  I 
should  be  paid  for  my  Monograph  on  the 
Parisian  Press  at  the  rate '  of  five  hundred 
francs  a  page/ 

"  That  is  so/  they  replied. 

"  'I  have  received  only  fifteen  hundred  francs 
and  there  are  four  pages;  accordingly  you  still 
owe  me  five  hundred  francs/ 

"  'But  your  corrections,  M.  de  Balzac !  Have 
you  any  idea  what  they  amounted  to?' 

"  There  was  nothing  said  about  my  paying 
for  corrections/ 

"That  is  true/  replied  M.  Renon,  'but  I 
ought  to  tell  you  that  Alexandre  Dumas's  ar- 
ticle, Filles,  Lorettes  et  Courtisanes,  also  ran 


236  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

to  four  pages,  yet  we  have  not  given  him  a 
centime  more  than  we  have  given  you/ 

"Balzac  started  and  turned  pale.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  he  must  have  been  in  great  financial 
need  before  he  would  have  come  to  make  such  a 
request.  But  he  quite  forgot  this  in  the  face  of 
the  words  he  had  just  heard.  For,  without 
pressing  his  claim  further,  he  arose,  took  his 
hat  and  said,  with  an  accent  of  solemn  dignity : 

"  'From  the  moment  that  you  compare  me 
with  that  negro  I  have  the  honour  of  wishing 
you  good  evening  P 

"He  went  out.  And  that  was  how  the  mere 
name  of  Alexandre  Dumas  saved  the  business 
office  of  The  Great  City  five  hundred  francs."  * 

In  order  to  hasten  his  liberation  from  debt 
and  his  settlement  with  creditors,  Balzac  tried 
to  augment  the  sums  which  he  received  from 
editors  and  publishers  with  the  profits  from 
various  speculations.  He  expected  a  rise  in 
value  of  the  shares  which  he  held  in  the  com- 
pany of  the  Chemins  de  Fer  du  Nord,  and,  either 
trusting  to  reliable  information  or  else  himself 

*  Balzac,  by  Eugene  de  Mirecourt,  pp.  80-82. 


IN  RETIREMENT  237 

possessing  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  devel- 
opment of  real  estate  in  Paris,  he  urged  Mme. 
Hanska  to  invest  her  capital  in  land  in  the 
Monceau  district.  He  cited  the  example  of 
Louis-Philippe,  who  was  the  cleverest  specu- 
lator of  his  time,  and  who  had  acquired  tracts  of 
immense  extent. 

After  the  close  of  1846  Balzac  retired  from 
the  outside  world  and  gave  himself  up  almost 
entirely  to  his  great  work.  Through  an  inter- 
mediary he  had  purchased  the  residence  of  the 
financier,  Baujon,  in  the  Rue  Fortunee,  and 
with  great  secrecy  he  had  it  repaired  and  re- 
decorated, with  a  view  to  making  it  habitable 
at  the  earliest  possible  date.  Here  he  deposited 
his  wealth  of  furnishings, — which  had  already 
begun  to  excite  public  wonderment,  owing  to 
certain  indiscreet  revelations, — but  his  life, 
which  had  always  been  closely  hidden,  had  now 
become  practically  unknown.  He  was  unwill- 
ing to  show  himself  again  in  public  until  he 
could  return  in  triumph  after  his  marriage. 
Mme.  Hanska  visited  Paris  a  second  time,  in 
1847,  and  approved  of  all  his  arrangements. 


238  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Balzac  in  return  went  to  Wierzchownia  that 
same  year,  and  he  was  dazzled  by  the  vastness 
of  her  estates, — which  were  equal  in  extent  to 
a  whole  department  of  France, — and  by  the 
possibilities  of  neglected  and  undeveloped  re- 
sources which  might  be  made  to  yield  millions. 
After  his  return  to  Paris  he  had  but  one  de- 
sire: to  go  back  to  Wierzchownia,  celebrate  his 
marriage,  and  realise  the  dream  which  he  had 
tenaciously  pursued  for  seventeen  years. 

He  remained  in  Paris  six  months,  living  in 
his  new  home  in  the  Rue  Fortunee,  denying 
himself  to  all  but  his  most  intimate  friends, 
and  hiding  his  prosperity  until  the  day  should 
come  when  he  could  announce  his  good  for- 
tune to  the  world  at  large.  One  of  the  last 
portraits  of  Balzac  at  this  period  is  the  one 
traced  by  Champfleury,  whom  he  had  received 
as  a  disciple  and  fervent  admirer: 

"M.  de  Balzac,"  he  wrote,  "descended  the 
stairs  enveloped  in  his  famous  monk's  robe.  His 
face  is  round,  his  black  eyes  are  excessively  bril- 
liant, the  general  tone  of  his  complexion  verges 
upon  olive,  with  patches  of  violent  red  in  the 


IN  RETIREMENT  239 

cheeks,  and  pure  yellow  towards  the  temples 
and  around  the  eyes.  His  abundant  hair  is  a 
dense  black,  intermingled  with  threads  of  sil- 
ver ;  it  is  an  astonishing  head  of  hair.  In  spite 
of  the  amplitude  of  his  dressing-gown,  his  girth 
appears  enormous."  And,  further  on,  he  gives 
us  this  second  sketch :  "but  at  the  age  of  forty- 
nine  M.  de  Balzac  ought  to  be  painted  rather 
than  sculptured.  His  keen  black  eyes,  his 
powerful  growth  of  hair  intermingled  with 
white,  the  violent  tones  of  pure  yellow  and  red 
which  succeed  each  other  crudely  in  his  cheeks, 
and  the  singular  character  of  the  hairs  of  his 
beard,  all  combine  to  give  him  the  air  of  a  fes- 
tive wild  boar,  that  the  modern  sculptors  would 
have  difficulty  in  reproducing." 

Arriving  in  Paris  a  few  days  before  the  Revo- 
lution, Balzac  witnessed  the  turbulent  scenes  of 
1848.  It  is  said  that  he  was  one*  of  the  first 
to  reach  the  Tuileries,  mingling  with  the  excited 
populace,  and  he  brought  away  a  fragment  of 
the  tapestry  which  covered  the  throne  of  Louis- 
Philippe.  He  attended  an  Assembly  of  Men-of- 
Letters,  which  met  to  decide  what  their  atti- 


240  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

tude  should  be  towards  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment, but  he  had  an  absent-minded  and  de- 
tached air,  as  though  he  found  himself  a 
stranger  among  all  those  writers.  He  found  no 
one  he  knew,  and  seemed  to  be  searching  for  his 
comrades  of  earlier  days.  His  frequent  jour- 
neys outside  of  France,  which  began  in  1845, 
his  long  periods  of  residence  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, in  company  with  Mme.  Hanska,  seemed 
to  have  weaned  him  away  from  the  environ- 
ment in  which  he  had  lived  and  developed,  and 
fitted  him  for  a  different  mode  of  life. 

The  club  of  Universal  Fraternity,  in  Paris, 
having  placed  him  upon  its  list  of  candidates 
for  the  legislative  elections,  he  sent  to  its  presi- 
dent the  following  public  letter,  proud  and 
somewhat  disillusioned,  in  reply  to  the  question 
of  a  member,  who  wished  to  know  his  political 
opinions: 

"I  have  already  stated  that  if  the  functions 
of  a  representative  were  entrusted  to  me  I 
would  accept  them.  But  I  thought  from  the 
beginning  and  I  still  think  that  it  is  superfluous 
for  any  man  whose  life  and  works  have  been 


IN  RETIREMENT  241 

public  property  for  twenty  years  to  make  a 
profession  of  faith. 

"There  are  some  men  whom  the  votes  solicit, 
and  there  are  others  who  must  solicit  votes,  and 
it  is  the  latter  who  must  prove  the  soundness 
of  their  political  views.  But,  as  to  me,  if  I 
have  not  taken  my  place,  through  my  writings, 
amongst  the  nine  hundred  individuals  who  rep- 
resent in  our  country  either  intelligence,  or 
power,  or  commercial  activity,  or  a  knowledge 
of  laws  and  men  and  business,  the  ballot  will 
tell  me  so!" 

But  although  Balzac  had  for  twenty  years 
had  an  ambition  to  hold  political  office,  to  be  a 
cabinet  minister  and  have  a  share  in  the  gov- 
ernment, he  witnessed  the  Revolution  of  1848 
with  no  other  feeling  than  sorrow,  for  he  felt 
that  it  augured  no  good  for  France.  Besides, 
at  this  time  he  had  no  other  wish  than  to  re- 
turn to  Russia,  join  Mme.  Hanska,  and  close 
the  great  mystery  of  his  life  with  a  glorious 
marriage.  During  the  few  months  that  he  re- 
mained in  Paris,  from  February  to  September, 
1848,  he  showed  nothing  of  his  customary  liter- 


242  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ary  activity,  and  seems  to  have  had  no  other 
thought  than  that  of  putting  his  new  home  in 
order,  and  transforming  it  into  a  sumptuous 
abode.  And  when  everything  was  ready  to  re- 
ceive the  future  bride  he  set  out  for  Wierz- 
chownia,  at  the  end  of  September,  leaving  his 
home  in  the  care  of  his  mother,  with  whom  he 
had  often  had  clashes  and  periods  of  coldness, 
yet  who  had  never  refused  her  son  a  devotion 
which,  although  at  times  somewhat  churlish, 
was  based  upon  a  deep  affection  and  a  precise 
recognition  of  her  duties. 

Accordingly  Mme.  de  Balzac  watched  over 
his  interests,  just  as  she  formerly  did  in  1832, 
when  he  had  gone  to  Aix  in  the  company  of 
Mme.  de  Castries;  and  Balzac  sent  instructions 
to  her  from  Russia,  but  their  tone  showed  an 
assurance,  a  certain  complete  tranquillity,  which 
he  had  not  had  in  the  days  of  his  laborious 
youth.  These  instructions  related  to  business 
ventures  which  he  was  thinking  of  undertaking, 
— during  his  first  sojourn  he  had  considered  the 
plan  of  utilising  Count  Mnizschek's  forests  by 
converting  them  into  railway  ties, — and  now  he 


IN  RETIREMENT  243 

wanted  her  to  send  him  a  work  by  Vicat,  treat- 
ing of  mortars  and  hydraulic  cement;  then  there 
were  orders  relating  to  the  care  he  wished  to  be 
given  to  the  final  settling  of  his  home, — which 
cost  him  not  less  than  four  hundred  thousand 
francs.  Mme.  de  Balzac  must  needs  oversee 
the  various  contractors,  Grohe,  the  upholsterer, 
Paillard,  who  had  the  contract  for  furnishing 
the  parlour,  Feuchere,  the  worker,  in  bronze, 
from  whom  Balzac  wished  his  mother  to  order 
two  brackets  in  gilded  copper,  while  at  the  same 
time  she  was  to  send  him  a  complete  list  of 
all  his  table  silver.  He  went  into  the  most 
minute  details,  which  showed  his  love  of  order, 
begging  his  mother  to  remind  Frangois,  one  of 
his  servants,  to  fill  and  clean  the  lamps,  "for 
iiat  is  an  essential  matter,"  he  insisted.  Each 
of  these  letters  to  his  mother  contains  some 
such  trivial  recommendation,  which  goes  to 
show  that  he  had  the  instinct  of  a  careful  house- 
keeper who  hates  needless  waste. 

From  Russia  he  continued  to  supervise  his 
theatrical  interests,  and  entrusted  them,  so  far 
as  they  related  to  Mer cadet,  to  his  friend, 


244  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Laurent-Jan,  while  at  the  same  time  he  pro- 
tested against  a  performance  of  Vautrin 
which  he  had  not  authorised.  He  announced 
to  Laurent- Jan  that  he  was  hard  at  work  and 
was  preparing  some  scenarios  for  him.  He  had 
not  renounced  the  idea  of  making  money- 
through  the  dramatic  branch  of  his  art.  For 
there  were  times  when  Mme.  Hanska  became 
anxious  regarding  his  personal  debts,  which 
were  not  yet  wholly  paid  off,  as  well  as  their 
mutual  debts  incurred  in  relation  to  their  future 
home  and  its  furnishings.  He  feared  that  his 
mother,  who  was  herself  easily  alarmed,  might 
write  some  discouraging  news  as  to  his  finan- 
cial position,  and  in  this  way  alarm  the  countess. 
Accordingly  he  sent  her  one  day  a  secret  letter, 
through  the  post-office  in  Berditcheff,  in  which 
he  gave  her  most  explicit  orders  in  this  connec- 
tion. For  he  had  now  been  in  Wierzchownia  al- 
most twelve  months,  and  his  marriage,  although 
ostensibly  agreed  upon,  had  not  yet  taken  place, 
and  he  knew  that  in  such  a  case  the  whole  thing 
might  fall  through  at  any  time,  up  to  the  very 
moment  of  the  ceremony.    As  a  matter  of  fact, 


FAME 

Statue  of  Balzac,  by  Falguiere,  erected  in  Paris,  on  the  Avenue 
Friedland. 


IN  RETIREMENT  245 

he  was  a  sick  man,  his  heart  and  lungs  were 
both  affected,  he  had  lost  the  last  of  his  teeth, 
and  there  were  some  days  when  he  found  it  im- 
possible even  to  move  his  arms  without  a  sense 
of  suffocation. 

Nevertheless  his  constancy  was  at  last  recom- 
pensed, after  months  of  despair,  during  which 
he  said,  "I  must  regard  the  project  which 
brought  me  here  as  indefinitely  postponed/' 
In  March,  1850,  preparations  were  made  for  the 
marriage,  and  in  announcing  it  to  his  mother 
he  said  that  he  would  notify  her  of  the  day  of 
his  return,  so  that  she  could  decorate  the  rooms 
with  flowers,  "beautiful,  beautiful  flowers." 
And  on  March  15th  he  despatched  two  letters, 
one  to  Mme.  de  Balzac  and  the  other  to  Laure, 
in  which  he  announced  the  event  so  long  de- 
layed. "Yesterday,  at  Berditcheff,  in  the  par- 
ish church  of  St.  Barbara,  a  delegate  of  the 
bishop  Jatomir,  a  saintly  and  virtuous  priest, 
closely  resembling  our  own  Abbe  Henaux,  con- 
fessor of  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  blessed  and 
celebrated  our  marriage."    And  he  signed  the 


246  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

letter  to  his  sister:  "Your  brother  Honore,  at 
the  pinnacle  of  happiness!" 

The  happiness  was  brief.  Balzac  seems  to 
have  been  destined  to  have  a  life  made  up 
solely  of  toil  and  struggles,  and  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  he  had  forced  his  way  out  of  the 
jungle  of  obstacles  and  superhuman  efforts,  and 
had  reached  that  vast  plain  where  travellers 
along  the  path  of  life  repose,  destiny  forbade 
him  any  joy.  At  the  moment  when  he  was 
hoping  for  happiness,  peace,  and  love,  death 
was  at  his  elbow. 

He  returned  with  his  wife  to  Paris  towards 
the  end  of  May,  1850,  in  a  state  of  exhaustion, 
and  yet  full  of  dreams,  projects  and  hopes, — 
but  only  to  take  to  his  bed  and  await  his 
destined  hour.  Nothing  could  be  more  dra- 
matic than  his  last  weeks.  He  suffered  from 
heart,  lungs  and  liver.  Every  care  was  taken 
of  him,  and  hope  was  offered  of  a  cure;  yet  he 
never  rose  again.  His  work  had  killed  him. 
No  one  can  read  without  emotion  the  simple 
line  that  he  traced  on  June  20,  1850,  on  a  letter 
dictated  to  his  wife  for  Theophile  Gautier,  who 


IN  RETIREMENT  247 

had  called  to  see  him:  "I  can  no  longer  read 
nor  write!" 

Honore  de  Balzac  died  during  the  night  of 
August  18,  1850,  at  a  time  when  his  beautiful 
and  weary  eyes  had  barely  caught  a  fleeting 
glimpse  of  fortune,  glory  and  peace. 

Victor  Hugo  was  notified  and  hurried  to  his 
bedside. 

"We  traversed  a  corridor/'  he  has  recorded, 
"we  ascended  a  staircase  covered  with  a  red  car- 
pet and  encumbered  with  works  of  art,  vases, 
statues,  paintings,  cabinets  containing  enamels; 
then  another  corridor,  and  I  saw  a  door  stand- 
ing open.  I  heard  a  rattling  breath,  loud  and 
sinister.     I  found  myself  in  Balzac's  bedroom. 

"A  bed  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  chamber. 
It  was  a  bed  of  acacia  wood,  at  the  head  and 
foot  of  which  were  cross-pieces  and  straps,  ap- 
parently forming  part  of  an  apparatus  for  lift- 
ing and  moving  the  sick  man.  M.  de  Balzac 
lay  in  this  bed,  with  his  head  supported  on  a 
pile  of  pillows,  to  which  had  been  added  some 
red  damask  cushions  taken  from  the  sofa  in  the 
same  room.    His  face  was  purple,  almost  black, 


248  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

and  was  turned  towards  the  right.  He  was  un- 
shaven, but  his  gray  hair  was  cut  short.  His 
eyes  were  wide  open  and  staring.  I  saw  him 
in  profile,  and,  seen  thus,  he  resembled  the 
emperor. 

"An  old  woman,  the  nurse,  and  a  man-ser- 
vant were  standing,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
bed.  A  candle  was  burning  behind  the  head- 
board on  a  table,  and  another  on  a  commode 
near  the  door.  On  still  another  table  a  silver 
vase  had  been  placed.  The  man  and  woman 
stood  silent,  listening  in  a  sort  of  terror  to  the 
noisy  rattle  of  the  dying  man's  breath. 

"The  candle  at  the  head  of  the  bed  vividly 
lighted  a  portrait  of  a  young  man,  high  col- 
oured and  smiling,  which  hung  above  the 
mantle. 

"An  insupportable  odour  emanated  from  the 
bed.  I  lifted  up  the  coverlid  and  took  Bal- 
zac's hand.  It  was  bathed  in  sweat.  I  pressed 
it,  but  he  did  not  return  the  pressure. 

"The  nurse  said  to  me: 

"  'He  will  die  at  daybreak/ 

"I  descended  the  stairs,  carrying  away  that 


IN  RETIREMENT  249 

livid  face  in  my  thoughts;  as  I  crossed  the  par- 
lour I  once  again  came  upon  the  motionless 
bust  (of  Balzac,  by  David  of  Angers),  impassi- 
ble, proud  and  vaguely  radiant,  and  I  drew  a 
comparison  between  death  and  immortality. 

"On  reaching  my  home,  as  it  happened  to  be 
Sunday,  I  found  several  callers  waiting  for  me, 
amongst  others  Riza-Bey,  the  Turkish  charge 
d'affaires,  Navarrete,  the  Spanish  poet,  and 
Count  Arrivabene,  an  Italian  exile.  I  said  to 
them : 

"  'Gentlemen,  Europe  is  about  to  lose  a  great 
mind/ 

"He  died  during  the  night,  at  fifty-one  years 
of  age." 

Balzac  loved  to  compare  his  struggles  with 
the  military  campaigns  of  Bonaparte,  and  to 
point  out  that  he  had  conducted  them  without 
halt  or  bivouac,  after  the  manner  of  the  great 
conqueror.  He  wished  to  equal  him  in  glory 
and  to  surpass  him  in  the  achievements  that 
he  should  leave  behind  him  for  the  benefit  of 
future  generations.    He  has  recorded  his  great 


250  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

desire:  "In  short,  here  is  the  game  I  am  play- 
ing; during  this  present  half  century  four  men 
will  have  exerted  an  immense  influence:  Na- 
poleon, Cuvier,  O'Connell,  and  I  should  like  to 
be  the  fourth.  The  first  lived  upon  the  blood 
of  Europe,  he  inoculated  himself  with  armies; 
the  second  espoused  the  globe;  the  third  was 
the  incarnation  of  an  entire  people;  as  for  me, 
I  shall  have  borne  an  entire  social  epoch  in  my 
toad." 

More  fortunate  than  the  young  Corsican 
sub-lieutenant,  Balzac  produced  a  work  pos- 
sessing a  permanence  which  the  other  could  not 
have, — since  thought  is  always  greater  than 
action, — and  although  death  surprised  him  be- 
fore he  could  lay  the  last  stone  of  his  edifice, 
its  incompleted  grandeurs  might  well  suffice  the 
loftiest  ambition. 


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